


Fallacious Happiness

by MinJungYoongi, Quad_JRMV (twerkingorange)



Series: Happiness Series [1]
Category: EXO (Band), GOT7, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Bad Boy Jeon Jungkook, Best Friends, Betrayal, Broken Promises, Bullying, Depression, Drugs, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Foster Care, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Jeon Jungkook Being an Asshole, Jung Hoseok Being an Asshole, Kim Taehyung | V & Park Jimin Are Best Friends, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Min Yoongi | Suga Being an Asshole, Parent namjin, Past Child Abuse, Past Domestic Violence, Past Rape/Non-con, Protective Parents, Protective Park Jimin, Recovery, Redemption, Revenge, Secrets, Sexual Assault, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut, Suicide Attempt, Swearing, Verbal Abuse, platonic vmin, smut in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 05:22:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 13
Words: 44,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinJungYoongi/pseuds/MinJungYoongi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/twerkingorange/pseuds/Quad_JRMV
Summary: Growing up without a family, Taehyung has learned to not trust or let anyone into his personal life. For as long as he can remember, he had been to many foster care homes throughout his life, each family returning him back until he finally had a family who cared for him. Still not believing his new foster parents, he suffers depression and wishes to stay in his room and not go to school. The day he is forced to go, he meets a slightly younger boy, named Jungkook.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted on Wattpad under Quad_JRMV. If there are any problems with the tags just tell me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is our first fic so please bear with us. If you guys have any questions or want to point out some mistakes, leave it in the comment section. Also I'll be editing the fic as time goes on, but the edits will be minor, unless I tell you guys otherwise.
> 
> Edited: 07/06/2017  
> Word Count: 2151

Kim Namjoon was a prominent teacher liked by a plethora of students at the high school he taught at. Granted, his popularity was due to the fact that Mr. Kim was the youngest teacher on campus, and his teaching method allowed students the freedom to carry out their assignments however they pleased. However, Mr. Kim still kept strict grading rules, so no one could really take advantage of him, and no one really wanted to in the first place. Mr. Kim was such a cool teacher; he ruled his classroom with equality as well as a bully free-zone. Not one harsh remark between students would go past his ears. Even though he was overbearing, students still loved him. They trusted him as teacher to teach, as well as a friend to receive advice from. Kim Namjoon, at the age of twenty, was the best teacher a student could ever ask for. 

Not only was he a bomb teacher, but he was born a genius. At least that's what people told him. In his educational career, he's skipped various grades and graduated from the Oxford University at the ripe age of nineteen. Namjoon wanted to graduate with his class, but he couldn't help himself. He had too much time to waste and the classes he took were like second nature to him. Besides being told he was a genius, Namjoon had various career opportunities open to him as well such as: a tech engineer for a prestigious company, a full-ride scholarship to medical school, and an internship at a law firm. But he decided teaching was for him, and indeed it was. 

Throughout his teaching career, Namjoon tried to teach all types of subjects to see which one fit him best. In the end he became an English teacher at Seoul Performing Arts High School. 

Now fast forward two years, and Namjoon is preparing for one of the most important conferences of the school year. The conference was a mix of scouting for new teachers, having teachers from across the nation converse with each other about, well their teaching, and meeting with the board of education to talk about future goals regarding the nation's youth. Namjoon loved going to these conferences because he was able to meet other teachers from various schools to chat about new teaching techniques and gossip about their students. However, the one aspect that Namjoon loved the most was being able to host interviews for his school's opening teaching positions. 

For this years conference, Namjoon was in charge of hiring a new drama teacher. The last one they had decided to become a play actor and quit without giving the students, or the staff, a proper notice. So now the school was in a bind to hire a new one. Namjoon went through a series of interviews, with none of them being particularly spectacular. 

As Namjoon began to get ready for his break from interviewing, a young man with a crisp white button up and black slacks walked up to his booth. 

"Umm.. excuse me," said the man as he awkwardly stood at the front of the table. Namjoon turned towards him and immediately his breath was taken away -- this man was gorgeous. 

'What type of perfect specimen has decide to graced my presence,' thought Namjoon as he tried to discreetly check the man out. As Namjoon stared at the man, said man suddenly cleared his throat loudly to catch Namjoon's attention. 

"Oh yeah, I, um, yeah, sorry. How can I help you?" Asked Namjoon, scratching the back of his head. 

"I was wondering if your school had any open drama teaching positions," answered the man. 

"Ah, yeah, we actually do. That's why we're interviewing people. Why?... Never mind that was a dumb question. I guess you're here for the interview." Namjoon blushed in embarrassment at his mistake. 

"Yeah, I'm here for the interview." 

Namjoon nodded his head and began looking around the table for his interview materials and motioned for the stranger to take a seat. Once he found them, he asked the man,"Okay, can you give me your name please?" 

"Kim Seokjin, but you can call me Jin, sir." 

"Very well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Jin."

The rest of the interview flew by with flying colors. There wasn't a moment that Namjoon thought he would dare describe as being boring or basic. No, this interview was nothing compared to the ones he's done. Kim Seokjin was able to perfectly answer the interview questions with creativity and individuality. He even threw in some dad jokes that Namjoon wasn't expecting which added to make the typically nerve-wracking interview atmosphere more relaxing and fun. Namjoon even got to learn that Jin was a single father of an adopted six year old boy named Jimin. 

The interview almost felt like a date in Namjoon's opinion, but nevertheless he granted Jin to drama position because he knew the kids would love him and his teaching philosophy was amazing. Not only that, but towards the end of the interview, as Namjoon was organizing and filling out Jin's papers, Jin cheekily asked him,"Do you wanna grab some coffee after this?" And Namjoon couldn't have been any more happier to say yes.  
\--  
It's been a year since Namjoon met Seokjin at the school board conference and gave him the drama position. Everyday since then, Namjoon has been spending his lunches with Seokjin in his office in the back of the drama classroom. They've animatedly conversed about all sorts of things. From current politics to the new boybands rising in the music charts. The best thing though about being with Jin, in Namjoon's opinion, is the stories he tells about his seven year old, Jimin. 

Jin rambles about the smallest things Jimin does that makes him proud, whether it's drawing crude stick figures or coming home from school with a good behavioral note. Sometimes the stories aren't as happy as some. There are days when all Jin does is worry aloud about Jimin's behavior from school on bad days and the little panic attacks the little boy is prone to. 

When this topic comes up, Namjoon usually offers some advice and encouraging words to cheer Jin up, unaware of how stressful the situation really was. Nonetheless, Jin always expresses how grateful he is towards Namjoon for trying to understand the hardships he's going through. 

One day during their lunch, Jin suggested, "hey, do you want to come over for dinner tonight?"

Namjoon looked up towards Seokjin face before answering,"Yeah, sure. What time do you want me to come?" 

"How about around six o'clock-ish?" 

"That's sounds fine. I'll be there." 

"Ok," Seokjin confirmed. The rest of the lunch period was spent with them bickering over which new music boy group who would rise to the top this year, SF9 or NCT. 

Later that day, Namjoon got ready to have dinner at Jin's place. To think he wasn't nervous was an understatement, he was extremely nervous. His hands were sweaty and he kept walking in circles around his house before getting into his car to drive to Jin's house. Namjoon didn't know what to expect. It's been years since he last went over to a friends house for a dinner, especially a friend who was his boyfriend that was a single-parent. He was unsure of how to interact with Jimin. Based on Jin's stories, the small boy was a ticking time bomb. 

Namjoon arrived at Jin's house which had toys strewn about the entrance. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before gently knocking on the door. On the other side, he heard some muffled yelling and feet hitting the ground at a fast pace. The footsteps grew louder and louder, before the door opened widely to present a flushed-faced Jin in a cute pale yellow apron and kitty mittens on his hands. 

"Hey, you made it. Come on in," Jin said as he opened the door more widely and stepping to the side so Namjoon can enter. Namjoon nodded before entering and took off his shoes in the entrance way. 

"Um, dinner isn't ready yet. But if you want you can chill in the living room as I get the last dishes set up," suggested Jin when he started to make his way down the corridor into the kitchen. Not a second later, Jin popped his head out from the room,"Oh, and the living room is down the hall to your right. Also, can you keep Jimin some company? He should be playing with his toys in the living room. He's been feeling rather lonely these past few days. Talk to him a bit," Jin said. 

"Alright," answered Namjoon. He walked down the hall, noticing the various photographs hung on the wall of Jin and Jimin. The picture frames were of a variety of sizes and colors, each capturing the most beautiful moments in life. After staring at the photographs, Namjoon continued to walk down the hall and through the first archway on his right. 

The living room was decorated in natural colors, a mixture of light browns and whites, making the room seem brighter even with the modern white curtains pulled back. The room was also filled with a variety of children's toys laying on the ground. The most impressive aspect of the living room, in Namjoon's opinion, was the far left wall covered by a book shelf filled with books from top to bottom. Namjoon's trance on the bookshelf was broken by the sounds of a child producing car noises. Namjoon turned around and found a little boy surrounded by toy cars. 

"Hi, Jimin," Namjoon greeted as he walked over and crouched down in front of the boy. Jimin turned to look at Namjoon and shyly greeted back. They stared at each other for a few seconds letting the awkward silence permeate the air. 

"D-Do you want to play with me?" Jimin asked cautiously. Namjoon smiled sweetly at Jimin's request and sat down on the floor to play with him. 

A couple of minutes passed as Namjoon and Jimin played with the toys around them. Jin stalks into the living room quietly, so the boys don't notice him. An affectionate smile grew on his face as he watched his boyfriend play with his son before calling out to them. 

"Hey guys, dinner's ready," Jin stated leaning against the doorway. The boys jumped up slightly in surprise. Jimin got up quickly, running towards his dad and wrapping his short arms around Jin's legs.

"Daddy! Me and Uncle Namjoon were playing with the toy cars you bought me yesterday and.... and we had a race and.... it was so much fun. You should have been there, daddy!" Jimin rambled as he looked up to his dad's face with a humongous smile which was missing a tooth. 

"Yeah buddy, I bet you had fun. But now it's time to eat. Go wash your hands," said Jin, directing Jimin towards the bathroom. Afterwards he motioned to Namjoon to follow him towards the dining table. 

The dining table was covered by a variety of foods, mostly side dishes highlighting the three small bowls of rice and meat. 

Dinner was going swell. There were a few jokes thrown here and there. Jimin was chatting away about what he did at school and the absurd things his friends told him about giraffes. The adults were even fascinated by the giraffe facts Jimin was relaying to them. Who knew that giraffes ate 75 pounds and slept thirty minutes a day? Certainly not Jin or Namjoon. As diner was proceeding smoothly, Jimin said something that made Namjoon and Jin choke on their food.

"Daddy, you should marry uncle Namjoon. He's really cool. Do you want to marry daddy, Uncle Namjoon? Daddy's cool too. He makes the best food, like really good," Jimin said nonchalantly as he stuffed his face with more rice. 

Jin let out a nervous giggle before turning to Namjoon on his left, only to find that the man was also staring at him from the corner of his eye with a sheepish smile. Namjoon looked back to Jimin and said jokingly, "Of course I'll marry your dad, but only if he wants to marry me too." 

"Really!?" Squealed Jimin. "Will you really marry him? Then you'll be my dad too. Oh my gosh, daddy you have to marry him," Jimin told Jin, pointing a sticky finger at Namjoon. 

"I-ah, um, okay. Yeah, I'll marry him," admitted Jin shyly. 

Jimin screamed in excitement and began bouncing in his seat. He started rambling about all the things they would do together, such as going to the zoo or to the family picnic events at his school. In the midst of Jimin's ranting, Namjoon turned to Jin and chuckled, "I guess we're getting married." 

Jin hit him lightly on the shoulder and laughed. "I guess we are."


	2. Chapter One: A New Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates will be every 4-5 days.  
> Italics= _flashbacks_  
>  Thank you for reading. 
> 
> Edited: 07/06/2017  
> Word Count:1767

"Taehyung, it's time to go," said Mrs. Lee, dressed in casual clothing as she walked into his room with a clipboard in her hand. She stopped abruptly at the door in order to locate where Taehyung was sitting before looking at him. 

Taehyung glanced towards his social worker before taking a few deep breaths and standing up from his place in the corner. He grabbed his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. Licking his lips nervously, he said, "Yeah yeah, whatever. Like anything will be any different." He nudged her aside as he walked out of the room into the main office.

Taehyung sat in the waiting area quietly; repeating the same monotonous steps he had done since his early childhood. Many of the younger kids, who have been there for long periods of time, would always ask him why he never got tired of waiting for the new family to pick him up or if he wasn't bothered by the idea that he always came back. 

In reality, he was bothered. He was distressed, angry, frighten, empty, but hopeful. He was hopeful that one day he'd get a nice family to take him in and love him like their own. But for some reason, that not even the deities knew, he would be given to misfit families of abuse and addiction. Within a few weeks, or perhaps even a couple of days, of being with a new family, they would always send him back to the center with complaints of him being a nuisance to the family. Of him being an extra person to feed. An extra person to waste money on.

But there were some cases where he would stay with families for more than a couple of weeks, months even, and those, in Taehyung's point of view, were the absolute worse. Those families would make it seem like they loved him, but then after spending some time with them, they wouldn't even treat him like a person anymore. They'd treat him like the scum of the earth, using him whichever way they pleased to their hearts content. 

However, if given the chance to escape the constant cycle of hellish homes, Taehyung would have taken the opportunity greedily. Sadly, Taehyung is a sixteen year old boy. He isn't allowed to be on his own until he's eighteen, it was the law. As much as he hated being tossed around, he obeyed the law.

Snapping him out of his thoughts, Mrs. Lee said, "alright Taehyung," as she walked into the waiting room. "Your new family just needs to sign a few papers and then you're all set to go, okay?"

He glanced up at her but didn't say a word, he only shrugged and slouched into the couch. Mrs. Lee sighed and gave Taehyung a smile as she walked out the room. Her smile was timid and small as if trying to tell him that this time around they found his forever family. But, Taehyung knew better than to believe her. 

Taehyung looked around as he waited for the time to pass, for his new parents to finish signing the foster papers. He closed his eyes for a bit and began to reminiscent about the last home he was with -- the Chois. 

_"If you come out of this room after five o'clock, I'll fucking make sure you'll never see the light of day again! Do you understand me, you little shit!?" Screamed a middle-aged man at Taehyung as he closed the door._

_Rapidly, Taehyung nodded and quickly went to sit on his small bed in the corner, furthest away from the door. Wanting to disappear and trying to make as little noise as possible, Taehyung laid on his bed and covered his body with a thin, worn-out blanket. He began to silently cry into his pillow, before the door abruptly opened._

_"Oh, and one more thi-," the man stared at Taehyung with eyes of disbelief , "are you fucking crying?!"_

_The anger in the man's voice rose and Taehyung couldn't do anything but coward in fear. He was too terrified to respond, he didn't want another beating. The man let himself into the cramped room and slammed the door behind him, locking it in the process. "Why the fuck are you crying? Bitches like you shouldn't be crying! You should be grateful for all the shit I've done. But if you’re gonna keep crying, then I'll give you something to cry about!" The man stalked over to Taehyung, unbuckling his belt and holding it tightly in his hands, before roughly grabbing Taehyung up from the bed by the forearm. He brought the belt down with a sickening whip._

_Taehyung pushed the memory out of his head and slightly lifted his shirt to look at the right side of his waist. There was a large purple bruise with a slight yellow shade surrounding the area and he was able to catch a glimpse of the ends of angry red and puffy whip marks that criss-crossed on his back._

Tears filled his eyes, spilling over down his cheeks, as he lowered his shirt when he heard footsteps getting louder. He quickly wiped his tears and acted as if nothing happened by looking around the office to take into account the various laid out toys, hung up pictures, and potted plants he had now memorized the position of.

"Taehyung-ah," Mrs. Lee said through the now open door, "the paperwork is all finished, you may come now."

He hesitantly stood up and sighed, walking out the door into the main waiting room to see his new family. He didn't dare make any eye contact and only stared at the floor in fear of already angering his new foster family. As he walked further into the room, he was met up with three pairs of male shoes. 

"Hey, Taehyung," a man greeted with a soft voice. "We're your new foster parents. If you would so kindly look up for me please, then we can greet you properly."

Taehyung didn't look up at all, still convinced something bad would happen. "Taehyung," Mrs. Lee said sternly, but not angrily from behind, "you need to listen to your new parents. Look up."

Taehyung took a deep breath and slowly looked up to meet the faces of with three men, all smiling at him.

The man on the left had blond hair brushed back. He was wearing black pants with a loose white t-shirt. He also had a pair of sunglasses on top of his head.

The man in the middle was dressed in light washed jeans and a white button up shirt. He wore light pink tennis shoes to compliment his outfit. 

Finally, Taehyung noticed a smaller sized male who appeared to be considerably younger than the other two, perhaps he was around the same age as Taehyung, on the right. His hair was black and nicely brushed. He wore a sleeveless black t-shirt with a white logo that read: “Excuse Me”. He also wore black pants along with white Puma shoes. 

"Hello Taehyung," the one with the blond hair spoke, "my name is Namjoon,” and then directed his gaze to the man standing next to him.

The slightly shorter man with brown hair spoke next catching Taehyung's attention, "My name is Jin, and as of today you’re free to ask us for anything that you need, there is no reason to be scared. We're family now." Jin smiled at Taehyung, noticing the boy's anxiety, but Taehyung quickly looked away before he could catch the smile Jin gave him. 

Then, Taehyung forced himself to look up at the boy on the right and waited for him to introduce himself. Jin slightly nudged him to signal his turn. 

"Oh, I'm sorry," he spoke in a soft voice, "my name is Jimin. I am glad to have you be part of my family, I never had a brother before. So I hope we get along." 

Taehyung made eye contact with Jimin, quickly looking away before turning his attention back to the ground.

Jin continued to stare at Taehyung quietly before he suddenly turned towards his husband, Namjoon, and tapped his shoulder pointing in Taehyung's direction. Namjoon nodded seemingly aware of the message Jin was trying to send. He walked towards Taehyung and placed an arm around his shoulder to comfort him, but both him and Jin quickly regretted the idea. 

Taehyung screamed internally and jerked away harshly; he tripped over his own feet and fell backwards onto the floor making a loud thud. He stayed on the floor, not moving a muscle as tears began to cloud his vision once more. He began to tear up a bit in fear that he's done something wrong by causing a scene and started mumbling a slur of apologizes automatically. 

"Taehyung!" Jin walked and knelt down next to him, pushing a confused Namjoon out of the way. Jin didn't dare touch Taehyung, afraid of inducing an even worse panic attack from him. So, he opted to only speak to him hoping his words would provide some sort of comfort to the crying boy, "what's the matter, sweetie?"

Taehyung forced himself stop crying and to calm down by taking deep breaths as he tried to understand what was happening. He looked up at Jin, licking his lips nervously and wiping the tears from his cheeks, before answering, "I'm fine." Taehyung stood up, ignoring Jin's outstretched hand to help him. Taehyung stood farther apart from the new family and closer to Mrs. Lee in order to calm his rapidly beating heart and headache. 

"Come on Taehyung, let's go outside. I think some fresh air would help, yeah?" Jimin said, trying hard to control the tone of voice so as to not alarm him. Taehyung nodded after checking to see Mrs. Lee's approving expression and followed Jimin out the of main waiting room with his hands gripping the straps of his worn-out backpack tightly. 

Once the two young boys were out the door, Namjoon and Jin stared at Mrs. Lee waiting for an explanation for Taehyung's behavior. Mrs. Lee sighed before saying, "Please don't let this episode affect how you treat him at home. He's just afraid of new families. You should know that he has never stayed with one family for more than four months. So, he may seem distant and cautious around you. He's afraid of how you're going treat him at home." After giving a more in-depth explanation of Taehyung's personality and behavior, Mrs. Lee left the room, leaving two worried parents behind. 

Namjoon held Jin's hand with a firm grip. "Everything will be okay, he'll be perfect no matter what he does." He kissed his cheek and lead Jin out the door towards the car where the boys were waiting.


	3. Chapter Two: New Fittings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 1783  
> Edited: 07/06/2017
> 
> TW: Past Childhood Abuse

After a thirty-five minute drive, Namjoon pulled the car up into the driveway of their house. Taehyung felt as if the ride from the orphanage to the house had taken an eternity. Not to mention he was a nervous wreck. During the car ride, Taehyung tried to make himself seem invisible. He curled up against his side door, giving Jimin the luxury of spreading his legs out sideways as he tapped away on his phone with his headphones in, and stared out the window, ignoring any attempts to formulate a conversation with his new foster parents. He watched various buildings go by, but the action proved futile; he was still anxious what lay for him once they got to the house. Before he knew it, Taehyung found himself staring at the front yard of his new home. 

Namjoon turned off the car and looked into his rear view mirror, he noticed that Taehyung was staring at their house with wide eyes. He was able to feel the waves of anxiety radiating off from Taehyung; Namjoon was aware that Taehyung was worried about being alone with them. He tried to alleviate Taehyung’s fear offering a warm smile in his direction and stated, "Welcome to your new home Taehyung. If you need anything to make your stay more comfortable, please feel free to ask."

Once everybody exited the car, they waited patiently for Taehyung to step out before opening the front door. Taehyung noticed the concerned facial expression on his foster parents face as they waited for him to get out. He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door after a few minutes of sitting. Taehyung slowly stepped out of the vehicle and looked at Namjoon, who was whispering something to Seokjin, his muscles tensed and went to softly close the door but slammed it accidently, instead.  
His eyes widened in pure fear, he held his hands together, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't know the door would slam that hard. Please don't hurt me, It was a mistake! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” He pleaded as his eyes teared up a bit. 

Completely ignoring Taehyung's apologies, Jin rushed towards Taehyung and placed a firm hand on his shoulder in order to calm him down. Taehyung screamed in terror and pushed Jin away from him, causing him to fall to the floor.  
"Seokjin!" Namjoon called out as he ran to him, "are you alright?"

Jin slowly nodded and looked at Taehyung whose body was trembling terribly. "Taehyung, please. Don't be afraid, just calm down, I'm not going to hurt you nor am I mad at you for pushing me. I very much deserved it, but if you can just come and follow me into the house, I can take you to your room and we'll let you cool down. You can come down whenever you'd like. Sound good?" Jin reached out to Namjoon and grabbed his hand, being picked up from the ground.  
Taehyung gripped his hair and lightly tugged on it; he calmed himself down after a few deep breaths. He didn't want to make any sort of eye contact so he pulled his hoodie over his head, covering his eyes with it, only his nose and mouth were seen. He didn't make any noise as he followed Jin inside the house, with Namjoon and Jimin following closely behind.

Taehyung wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, his focus was only directed towards Jin walking in front of him. Taehyung came to a halt when a flight of stairs came to view. He stared at the first few steps with wide eyes as he remembered the family he was with about three years ago.

_"Taehyung please come down stairs, it's time for dinner! Call down Amber and your foster father as well." A sweet voice called from the kitchen downstairs._

_Taehyung hesitantly got up from his bed and made his way to Amber's room; he knocked twice and waited. He heard the sound of a bed creak and footsteps coming towards the door. He stepped back as the door opened._

_"What do you want Tae?" Amber rubbed her temples, "I'm very busy, I have a lot of homework to finish by tomorrow."_

_Taehyung slightly bowed, "I'm sorry, but your mom told me to come call you. You've been in in your room all day and it's time for dinner."_

_Amber's eyes enlarged and she looked at the time, "it's that late?" She told herself. "Thanks bonehead, I needed a break." She walked out of her room and flicked Taehyung's forehead, making him grunt with pain._

_Taehyung walked away and towards his foster dad's room, he let out a shaky sigh and knocked twice on the door as well. He took a couple of steps back as he heard stomps making its way to the door._

_The door swung open, revealing a middle-aged man with a black muscle shirt and grey sweatpants. The man had a muscular figure, Taehyung was shaken a bit by his size. "What do you want you little bitch?"  
Taehyung made eye contact and quickly look away, he spoke but it was very soft, "dinner is ready." He bowed hesitantly and began to walk away, triggering the man’s anger._

_The man followed Taehyung and gripped the back collar of his shirt before Taehyung could make his way down the flight of stairs; the man forcefully made him look at his twisted face revealing his drunken stupor, "do you know why I don't like you? Why every single day I can only think about is killing you?" His teeth flared, "you destroyed this family's happiness with your presence. You're the reason why I can never have my real family with me. You took them away from me." He noticed Taehyung's eyes beginning to water. "You disgust me," he spit on his face and threw him to the floor._

_Taehyung shed a small tear. "That's it!" The man yelled and kicked Taehyung across the chest, "you're a fucking mistake!" He fisted Taehyung's shirt in his hands, lifting him up from the ground and into the air. "I hope this kills you." He grabbed his throat, causing to Taehyung gasp for air._

_"S-stop, p-please," Taehyung pleaded as he began to reach towards the hands, trying to push them away, but his actions were useless. The man gripped his throat even harder. Taehyung began to think to himself, what did he do wrong to deserve a life like this? His eyes started to flutter and black spots appeared surrounding his vision; he was slipping in and out of consciousness. His struggle to break free became a minimum, his hands slowly fell to his sides.  
The man began to tear up and realized what was happening in the scene in front of him but didn't stop. He turned to the floor, but when he looked back up at Taehyung, he was unconscious in his hands. The man screamed and tears began to escape his eyes._

_He stared at Taehyung and froze, his grip loosened and let Taehyung fall, to the floor. He stared at his shaky hands in fear._

_He failed to realize that they were by the edge of the staircase and as he let Taehyung go, he fell down the flight of stairs. The man's eyes widened as large as they could possibly get, "Taehyung!" He ran down the stairs, following Taehyung's unconscious body as he continued to roll, "no! I'm sorry!"_

_He heard a few cracks and pops here and there, a sound that'll haunt him at night. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"_

_Taehyung slowly opened his eyes and saw Amber crying and holding his hand, all he could feel was pain from every inch of his body; he turned his head and saw his foster dad being placed under arrest. His attention was caught from the corner of his eye, he looked up and saw medics rushing in the house, "all right son, you're going to be all right." The medics placed an oxygen mask over his mouth and strapped it to his head. "We're going to take you to the hospital and once you're healed up, you'll be going back to the child center where it's safe." Taehyung whined from the back of his throat, catching the medics attention. "I'm so sorry son, you probably don't know me but I've seen you three times already from different homes. This is a new extent, broken bones and a fractured rib." He looked into Taehyung's eyes with sympathy, "a thirteen year old shouldn't go through something like this. I really hope and pray that you find a great family soon."_

"Taehyung," Jin approached him with soft movements, "are you alright?"

Taehyung flinched a little and quickly nodded, "c-can you please take me to my room?" He began to make his climb the stairs quickly leaving Jin behind to follow him. He waited at the top, a safe distance from the steps.  
Jin finally made his way up and lead him to his room. He opened a door, a few feet down the hallway, revealing a fairly large room, it was enough to fit approximately seven people. "There you are," he looked at Taehyung. "Please come down whenever you’re ready, we'd like to discuss a few things with you." He walked away, leaving Taehyung to the opened room.

Taehyung slowly stepped inside and quietly shut the door, locking it in the process. He acknowledged his new surroundings and slowly dropped his backpack to the floor.

He walked up to the first thing that caught his attention in the room, a fairly large, cabinet. It fit in with the room just nicely, with its dark brown coloring and finely designed broader. Taehyung reached out and opened one of the cabinet doors, it was empty. Now closing it, he saw the large piece of furniture beginning to tip over. He quickly placed firm hands onto the edges of it and held the cabinet into place the best he could. Once it was steady, he caught his breath and slowly backed away from the heavy furniture.

He walked around his room and glided his hand across the drawers and the handle to his closet. Across the far end of his room, he turned around and saw a door slightly opened. He opened it and awed aloud; on the other side of the door was a fairly large bathroom. The sink, toilet, and bathtub were all porcelain white while the rest of the bathroom had a slight shade of gray added to it.  
He exited the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He sat on the corner of his bed and stared into a mirror that was on one of his drawers, in front of his bed. A soft knock caught his attention and as a reaction, his body started to rapidly shake as he went to answer the door.


	4. Chapter Three: Family Worries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 2254
> 
> Edited: 07/07/2017

"I'm worried about him Namjoon,” said Seokjin as he was preparing tea for the family, pacing back and forth. He noticed Namjoon sitting at the breakfast table with his leg crossed over the other, grading a stack of worksheets. Jin placed his hands were on the counter-top, and lightly began tapping a beat. "What can we do to help Taehyung?"

Namjoon looked up from the papers and stared at Jin, "I honestly don't know, babe. It's quite obvious that he's had a traumatic childhood, but all I can think of for now is allowing him adapt at his own pace and support him."  
Jin nodded and focused his attention back onto the tea, checking to see if it was ready. After a bit of stirring and adding some honey, he served four cups of tea and placed them on a tray. He walked towards the table, setting down a cup for Namjoon and himself. "Jimin, Taehyung! The tea is ready!"

Jimin popped into the kitchen, but halted when he sat down on one the island stools and looked around. "Where's Taehyung?"

The couple made eye contact and turned back to Jimin. Namjoon spoke up as Jimin sat in a chair beside him, "Taehyung is having some trouble adjusting, so he needs some time alone for now. But afterwards, we all have to do our best to make him feel happy and let him know that he's safe in our house, okay?"

Jimin took a sip of his tea with thought. He looked at his parents with a grin plastered on his face, ignoring his father's words, “then should I go up talk to him? Maybe he can get comfortable with me and open up a bit, since we’re like the same age and all."  
Both parents face-palmed at their son's disregard, but after thinking about it for a bit, Jin smiled. "I think that’s a great idea! Try to get him to come down, we want to talk to him about attending school on Monday. But don't pressure him into doing anything, treat him as if he were you, alright? I don't want you messing the poor kid up."

Jimin stood up abruptly and saluted, "I will not let you down father." He then broke out into a fit of laughter, "Nah, I'm just playing with you. Just don't expect anything."

Namjoon rolled his eyes and smiled, while Seokjin on the other hand was pretending to cry dramatically into his hands, "Oh, how and when did my little Jiminnie learn sarcasm from me so well? They grow up so fast." He received blank stares from the two, “Whatever then. Just take Taehyung’s tea when you go up, brat."

"Alright, I'll go now." He grabbed the tea and headed towards the stairs, "maybe I can convince him to play some video games with me!" He ran up the steps, skipping a few in the process, ignoring his parents warnings to slow down.

As Jimin made his way to Taehyung's room, he couldn't contain his excitement of at the thought of having a brother. He couldn't wait to experience some brotherly bonding time he was neglected from as he was his parents only child. He hyped himself up with all the possible activities he and Taehyung would do, but as soon as he approached Taehyung's door, he froze. Jimin felt this sort of strange aura permeating from the door that sucked all his energy away. He couldn't understand what he felt and wondered whether Taehyung felt like this all the time. Pushing the strange feelings aside, he softly knocked and waited by the door. He heard some shifting and the sound of feet slowly moving towards the door.

As the door opened, Jimin replaced his concern and with a soft smile. The door opened. Jimin looked at Taehyung and then to the teacup in his hand before explaining, “we thought it was a good idea to bring you some tea. You looked a bit tense ever since the car ride home.” Jimin held the cup further away from himself, motioning Taehyung to accept it.  
Taehyung clutched the cup in both hands, afraid of it slipping from his hands, and bowed slightly in Jimin’s direction while mumbling, “thank you.” Taehyung couldn't help but slightly prompt a small smile as he stared at the tea within the cup.

“You know,” Jimin said with a bigger smile, “I’d really like if you’d smile more. Seeing people happy when they're with me let’s me know I’ve done something good.” He noticed Taehyung turning his attention to Jimin. “Anyways, I already know that you are going to fit in just well, and what'll make this better is that we are technically brothers now! Well, sorta, but that’s besides the point. Your happiness is my happiness and there isn't one thing in this world that'll change that, you got it?” Jimin clenched his knuckle to form a fist and shook it by his face, “fighting.”

Taehyung slightly flinched when Jimin held up his fist, but when he didn't feel any pain and saw Jimin’s hand go down, he let out a breath of relief. Taehyung tentatively held up one fist in the air, “fighting,” he softly stated. Taehyung felt his heartbeat slow down a bit as his anxiety lessened and he didn't feel so nervous, he took a sip of his tea and enjoyed the warmth of the liquid spreading throughout his body. 

“Taehyung?” Jimin spoke with a soft tone and looked up at Taehyung, who answered with a slight nod. “Do you think you'll be able to join us downstairs now? Our dads would really want to discuss something with you.”  
Taehyung froze, his eyes wide and watching Jimin, who was shifting his feet. “I'm n-not sure if I'm c-comfortable yet,” he said avoiding his gaze.

“You have nothing to worry about, I'll be right there beside you. They're just going to ask for your opinion about something, something really exciting.” Jimin motioned Taehyung to follow his as he began to walk away.  
Taehyung sighed to himself but nervously walked out the door and followed Jimin down stairs and into the kitchen. As he walked into the kitchen, he had made eye contact with the two grown men in front of him. He gave a soft bow and walked over to the sink to silently wash his teacup. He felt the pressure of three pairs of eyes burning holes on his back which made his spine-tingle, his hands shake.

“Taehyung,” Jin called from behind, “when you're done washing your cup, please come have a seat with us at the breakfast table.” A couple of moments later Taehyung sat a chair away from his foster parents and concentrated on the napkin holder in front of him. Jin motioned Jimin to have a seat next to him. “Now before we start, I don't want you to feel intimidated by anybody sitting here. We only called you to ask you if you would feel comfortable attending school this Monday?”  
Taehyung looked up at his parents with wide eyes and mouth gaping in confusion, “school?” He saw the two nod, “as in learning in a building with other p-people and not here? Not h-homeschooled?”

Namjoon and Jin couldn't figure out if he was excited or scared. Namjoon cleared his throat and folded his hands on the table as he continued, “you don't have to start right away if you don't feel comfortable just yet.” He received a soft glare from Jin, but ignored it. “Have you ever been to a public or private school before?” Jin slightly pinched his leg and Namjoon tried not to express the pain externally.

Taehyung shook his head, “all of my previous foster p-parents were too embarrassed to take me out p-publicly, or they just thought that I didn't d-deserve an education. B-but I know the basics of reading and w-writing, so that was just e-enough.” He looked down to his hands and twiddled with his fingers nervously, “So, I-I don't think I can handle being there alone.”

“You won't be,” Jimin flashed a toothy grin and continued, “we're the same age, so I'll be going to school with you and I can introduce you to my friends. We'll be with you as long as we can.”

“I'm not too sure,” said Taehyung indecisively and scratched his head. He didn’t want to impose himself on Jimin and his friends.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Namjoon spoke, “we'll be at school too and you can come to us whenever you'd like.”

Taehyung stared at them blankly, he didn’t understand what Namjoon was trying to saying. He looked at Jimin, who was giggling softly. “They're both teachers at the school we’ll attend,” he pointed to Namjoon, “he's an English teacher.” Then pointed to Jin, “he's a drama teacher.” The two adults nodded and wait for Taehyung's response.

“I-I can give it a try,” Taehyung heard faint cheers, but turned his attention when he heard a soft ding coming from the kitchen.  
Jin stood up from his place and walked towards the oven, “now that we have you here Taehyung, care to join us for dinner?” He pulled out a casserole and placed it in the middle of the table. “Jimin can you please go and get some plates and forks?”  
Jimin nodded and found the items, he placed them down and sat down beside Taehyung, filling in the space between him and Namjoon as Jin set the food on the table.

\--

Since they’re both teachers, Jin and Namjoon woke up at five o'clock sharp because they’re required to be at school earlier than the students.  
Jin got out of bed and walked into the bathroom with a towel in his hand. He took a quick shower, as he finished he grabbed his towel and dried his hair, then wrapped it around his waist as he stepped out of the bathroom. As soon as he stepped out, Namjoon looked up at him and smiled. Admiring his husband, Namjoon walked up to Jin and wrapped his arm around his waist, bringing Jin closer.  
Jin couldn't help but stare into his husband's eyes with a soft smile, “what's the occasion?” He was waiting for Namjoon to answer when Namjoon surprisingly kissed him, Jin didn't argue with his suppose answer and instead closed his eyes and deepened the kiss. They followed each other's movements for awhile before Namjoon lightly nipped at Jin’s lips. Jin gasped causing him to slightly open his mouth, allowing their tongues to dance around each other passionately and sensually, expressing their love for each other.

After about a minute or two, they broke free from each other's grasp and Namjoon looked into Jin’s eyes, putting their foreheads together softly. “Today is going to be a great day, and I wanted to start it with something great.” He kissed Jin on the cheek and walked into the bathroom with a towel at hand.

Jin softly wiped the excess saliva from his lips and changed into his outfit for the day. He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled a bit while spinning a little for himself; he absolutely adored the outfit he put together. He had on skinny jeans with ripped holes on his knees, and a pair boots with small heels paired with a long sleeved shirt and a long coat. To complete the outfit, Jin adds on a hat which covers his entire head with shade if needed, but in this case, the hat didn’t serve much of a purpose besides for fashion. 

Jin walked out of the room after fixing on a few accessories and made his way downstairs into the kitchen. He opened a cabinet and pulled out two mugs, he placed them on the table in preparation for the coffee he was making for Namjoon and himself. He glanced at the time, noting that it was six twenty-six, there was enough time to peacefully enjoy his coffee with Namjoon before leaving. After a few minutes of waiting for his husband to finish getting ready, Jin heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He turned around and faced his adorable husband, who was dressed in white pants, black slip on dress shoes, and a light blue long sleeved button up shirt, with a coat in hand just in case it got too cold in the classroom.  
“Well look at my good looking man,” Jin stated as he began to pour coffee for the two, “you seem tired though, will coffee be enough?”  
Namjoon smiled, “of course. I just had a lot to think about last night, so it was a little difficult to falling asleep.” He received the cup of coffee from Jin and took a small sip of it. “I feel a little uneasy leaving them alone, what if Taehyung can't go, he can't force himself and I don't want him to either.”

Jin sat down at the island table in the kitchen and motioned Namjoon to do the same, “I'm sure everything will be fine. Jimin will be by his side and walk him to every class, I'll allow him to be late to a few classes just for today.” He stared at Namjoon, “what's there to worry about? Our Jiminnie is responsible enough to wake up on time and walk with Taehyung to school. Even then, we'll be with him and just a phone call away.”  
Namjoon finished his coffee with a hum as he let Jin’s words ebb away his worries and placed it in the sink. He grabbed his car keys from the key hanger in the kitchen and put on in his black coat, “Alright then, I'll trust Jimin with this, let's go. We have a meeting in thirty-five minutes.”


	5. Chapter Four: First Day Part 1/2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for posting chapter three twice for those that read it. Also should I include warnings at the beginning of chapters that need them?
> 
> Word Count: 5010

Jimin woke up a few minutes before his alarm clock went off because he couldn't contain his excitement about introducing Taehyung to his friends and going to school with him. He quickly walked out of his room and softly knocked on Taehyung's door that was down the hall. When there was no response or any sign of Taehyung being awake, Jimin stealthy walked into the room. He made his way towards Taehyung's bedside and frowned a bit when he noticed Taehyung sweating and clenching his bed sheets.

Jimin walked into Taehyung's bathroom and grabbed a small folded towel, he wet it with cool water under the faucet before carefully placing the damp towel over Taehyung's forehead. In response Taehyung flinched at the sudden touch and quickly opened his eyes. “What's going on?” He grabbed the towel from his forehead, but didn't remove it, paralyzed in fear that Jimin was going to do something to him.

“You were sweating,” Jimin said with a soft tone, he saw Taehyung's hand go back to his side and heard him sigh in relief. “I came to wake you so you could get ready for school. Maybe you could shower or, uh, I don't know just do your morning routine. But you have an hour to get ready, so move fast.” He made his way towards the door, “make sure to have time to eat breakfast before we leave. I'll meet you downstairs.”

Taehyung laid in bed for a few minutes before removing the half dried towel and getting up to walk to his bathroom. He took off his clothes and stepped into the shower. He turned on the water and just stood under the running water for about five minutes letting the warm water cascade down his body before he began scrubbing with the soapy scrub. Once he finished, he turned off the water and dried his hair, using the same towel to cover his lower body. He wiped off the mirror and stared at himself; more particularly his body. The lingering scars from previous families decorate his body, along with the fading bruises that made his torso mimic a poorly made Abstract Expressionist painting. Looking at his body made Taehyung feel uneasy and nauseated. No one other than the medics, himself, and debauched past family members, have seen his marred body, and he hopes to keep it that way.

He looked away from the mirror when he heard the sound of his bedroom door open, soft footsteps in his room, and the door closing. He waited for a few seconds until he opened his bathroom door, sticking his head out to make sure no one was in his room. Taehyung stepped out of his bathroom and locked the bedroom door. He looked around his room and noticed a clear shopping bag with black clothing inside sitting on his bed.  
Taehyung picked up the bag and read the note that was left on top of it, saying: _To Taehyung, From Your New Family_ , that was also decorated in small hearts and cute emojis. 

He took the clothes out of the bag after inspecting the contents and began to change into them. The first thing he put on was the black T-shirt in order to stop himself from focusing too much on his scars. The next article of clothing were a pair of black ripped skinny jeans. A leather jacket was also in the bag, he put it on along with his black and white converse he had in his bag.

Walking into the bathroom to look at himself, Taehyung smiled when the outfit was surprisingly well fitted and matched with his current fashion taste. He frowned as he stared at himself more, the thoughts he had previously been pushing to the back of his mind began to surface, “do they really like me? I'm just a good for nothing piece of trash. There’s no way they could like me, but they're treating me so well-” he shook his head. “No, don’t fall for it Tae, y’know better than this. This is how every family is before they start beating you and send you back. I won't get too comfortable. Not this time.”

He walked away from the mirror and unlocked his door, making his way downstairs and into the kitchen, only to see Jimin pouring two glasses of orange juice and toast sitting out. “Uh, good morning.” Taehyung said hesitantly when he fully entered the kitchen, “thank you for the clothes, it fits me well,” he said shyly.

“Oh, good morning Taehyung,” Jimin said with a smile. He handed him a cup of juice and a slice of toast with a little bit of butter and jelly. “No problem with the clothes, it was our pleasure so don't feel shy about it.” He took a bite out of his toast, “we should eat up, my friends are going to give us a ride today.”

“F-friends? As in the o-ones you mentioned yesterday, they're c-coming right now? To this h-house?” Taehyung tried not to sound nervous but he couldn't hide it away.

“Don't worry, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are amazing. You don't need to worry about anything, they know you're here and they’re on their way.” He drank some of his orange juice, “they sounded really excited when I mentioned you.”

Taehyung bit his lip and tried to push his raging anxiety aside, but as soon as he heard a doorbell ring, his body froze. “I-Is that t-them?” His throat became dry as he finished the last bite of his toast, he washed it down with the rest of his juice.

Jimin placed his dishes in the sink, “maybe.” He opened the door and was instantly greeted with a tight bear hug. “C-Chanyeol, you're h-hurting m-me-”

Chanyeol released Jimin from his death trap and apologized, “ah, sorry.”

Baekhyun greeted Jimin with a handshake and a small hug with pats on the back. “Good morning Jimin. Where's the other guy?” He said looking over his shoulder, which was easy considering Jimin’s height was shorter than his.

“He's in the kitchen,” Jimin answered as he closed the door behind them and lead the way. “Just don't scare him with your weirdness, yeah? It sure did scare me the first time.” They rolled their eyes but followed him. “Taehyung,” Jimin called. He noticed Taehyung’s hands slightly shaking, but tried to push it aside as he introduced his friends, “these are my friends. The freakishly tall one is Chanyeol, and the tiny guy next to him is Baekhyun.”

“Yah! What do you mean ‘tiny’?! I'm taller than you,” Baekhyun retorted as he crossed his arms over his chest. He noticed Taehyung smile, showing a little bit of his teeth. “Wow, your teeth are so straight and perfect. Did you wear braces as a kid?” Chanyeol nudged him with his elbow as Taehyung shook his head. “What? Don't hit me, I was just complimenting the kid. He's not bad looking.”

“Just ignore him Taehyung,” Chanyeol said as he stared down at Baekhyun, he looked up to Taehyung, “I hope you don't mind me asking, but, do you have a nickname or something? I like your name and all, but it's a little too formal for us.”

Taehyung thought about it and the only nickname that came to mind was the one his foster sister, Amber, had given him. “Um, I used to be called Tae. B-But that was a few years ago, I don't think y-you guys w-would like it.” He mentally kicked himself for stuttering so much.  
Baekhyun thought about it and smiled while looking at Taehyung, “I like it, it's not too complicated and it'll fit just right for your future high school lover too-” he said as he winked at Taehyung mischievously only to received a slap on the shoulder by a red-faced Chanyeol. “It happens to everyone, and you know it.” Baekhyun grumbled and pointed a finger to Chanyeol’s chest, “ _Channie_.”

Before Chanyeol could say something in retaliation, Jimin spoke up, “Yah! Just stop flirting and get in the car already. We'll be out in a bit.” He saw the two run out; Baekhyun speeding out the door before Chanyeol could catch him. Jimin rolled his eyes at his friends antics and faced Taehyung to inform him, “they're a couple by the way, but Chanyeol doesn't like it when others know about their relationship. So, don’t be alarmed by anything they do.”

“Ah,” expressed Taehyung in understanding as he scratched the back of his head and cringed for no real reason, feeling a little uneasy. “Maybe we should go, I kind of want to be there early to know where everything is at, if that's okay?” he suggested.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, that's totally fine. Let me just grab your backpack,” agreed Jimin when he looked at the time indicated by the digital clock near the fridge. He walked into the living room which was across the hall and returned with a dark blue backpack. “I put in two notebooks and a few pens and pencils, just in case.” He handed the backpack to Taehyung and gently grabbed his wrist to lead him out of the door.

As Taehyung walked out of the door, his face immediately turned in a light shade of pink. His eyes were wide and he quickly looked away, hiding his face with his hands while mumbling an apology for intruding on the couple.

Jimin quickly turned Taehyung towards him and acknowledged the slight flinch Taehyung had when he touched him. While holding Taehyung close to him, Jimin walked past the couple and opened the back seat door to let Taehyun in. Afterwards he glanced at Chanyeol and Baekhyun, who both continued their make-out session on the hood of Chanyeol’s car. Jimin stood in front of them with arms crossed ready to chide them, “so much for keeping your relationship a secret.” 

Chanyeol stepped away from Baekhyun after placing one swift kiss on his lips and gently wiped his boyfriend’s lips from any extra moisture. “I-I uh,” he noticed Taehyung through the car window turn around with his face a little flushed. “Sorry-”

“I'm not,” Baekhyun said with a shrug, hopping off the hood of the car and sitting into the passenger seat while motioning at the two boys to get into the car. “C’mon, get in the car losers, we gotta get to school.” He waited for the others to climb in, with Chanyeol driving and Jimin and Taehyung in the back seats. They buckled their seatbelts and drove off.

Taehyung spent the car ride to school observing the trees and houses as they past in order to ignore the side conversations occurring during their way to school. “Okay, Tae,” Taehyung shifted his attention towards Chanyeol as he addressed him, but didn't make eye contact, “there are a few things you need to know before we go into school.” Chanyeol turned into the student parking of the school as he continued to speak, “one of them being that this is a private performing arts school, so there are going to be a lot of stuck up, know-it-all's aiming to be the next “big thing”. Second, stay away from Jungkook’s possy. We'll show you how to avoid them the first thing and hopefully never meet Jungkook and friends, so yeah, just stick by us for now and you'll be fine.”

Baekhyun nodded along to Chanyeol’s spiel as he played some phone game he’s been addicted to lately. Suddenly Baekhyun seemed to have an epiphany as he quickly turned around, facing the back seat, “Tae, what art are you going to study here?”

Chanyeol parked the car and turned it off, also turning to the back seat, waiting for Taehyung's answer. Taehyung shrugged and mumbled, “Uh, I'm not sure if I’m talented in anything, so I don’t really know.”

Jimin smiled gingerly, “No pressure, just get through your assigned classes for the day, then after school, we'll take you to all the performing art departments and we'll find something you're good at or interested in.” He exited the car along with everyone else and looked around to notice the partially empty school lot. “In fact, I think we actually might have time to find something that fits you and grab your schedule,” he looked at his watch, “we have a good thirty minutes before the first bell rings. Let's go.”

Taehyung followed Jimin closely with Chanyeol and Baekhyun right behind debating where their next date should be. Taehyung stared at the large building ahead of him in awe and admired the architecture of it. It was his first time stepping foot on any outside school ground; he was astonished at the size of the campus entryway and the pretty flowers and trees planted around the buildings. His gawking was short lived by Jimin grabbing ahold of his wrist which caused him to roughly pull his arm back. “Oh shit sorry. I forgot the whole touching thing. I’ll try not to do it again,” apologized Jimin and gently reached for Taehyung’s hand once again, dragging him into the performance art building. “Alright, where should we start first?” Jimin clapped his hands as he asked aloud.

“Why don't we take him into one of our departments first?” Baekhyun suggested as he lead the way, “he can see if he likes any of those, and possibly join one. I think we should go to the choir department first.”

Baekhyun made a few turns down the hallway and stopped in front of a door with a window that took over a third of it. He looked inside and saw his instructor, Mr. Kyungsoo. He eagerly opened the door and allowed himself in, “Good morning Mr. Kyungsoo. I came early to introduce a new student, a good friend of mine.” He directed Mr. Kyungsoo’s attention to Taehyung, “this is Taehyung. He is trying to find an art he could study here at school, so we're going to all of the departments available.”

Mr. Kyungsoo held out a hand for Taehyung to shake, “nice you meet you, Taehyung.” He had a firm grip on his hand which made Taehyung nervous. “So, can you sing?” Mr. Kyungsoo asked.

“Uh, I-I’m not s-sure. It’s b-been a while.” Taehyung avoided eye contact.

“Hm,” Mr. Kyungsoo walked to his piano, “what kind of music do you listen to? Have you tried singing to that music?”

“I listen to a group called NCT, but I don't really sing aloud, mainly just listen to it.” He began to play around with his figures as he heard the teacher play a scale on the piano.

“Then let's try matching pitch, match with the piano and me,” he played the C major scale a few times on the piano, each leading higher as he recited the famous solmization associated to it, “Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do,” he smiled, “you try.” He played the same notes and waited for Taehyung to sing the scale.

Taehyung gulped and took a deep breath, “Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do.” The four men in the room stared at him in awe. Taeyhung’s voice was so deep, but it was perfectly in tune with the scale on the piano. Taehyung scratched the back of his head and shook it at the same time, “ uh, sorry, I’m not as good as you were.”

“Woah,” was all the teenage boys could say, ignoring Taehyung’s apology. Based off their first impressions of Taehyung, they knew he was shy and quiet, but they did not expect him to possess such an amazing singing voice.

“That was amazing, Taehyung,” Mr. Kyungsoo stood and walked to him. “Your voice is so soft but deep, and people love a good voice like yours. I don't want to pressure you into my class, but just know that you'll feel welcomed in here. And I’ll have no hard feelings if you decide to not be in my class.” He continued, “you have a gift, possibly even more, I hope you choose wisely.”

Taehyung softly bowed, “t-thank you s-sir.” He turned to his new friends and Jimin, and walked out of the classroom.  
“That was beautiful, man.” Baekhyun complemented, “where did you learn to sing like that?”

“Er, uh, in one of my old homes, I was forced to sing in an all-boys choir group,” he sighed. “They said that if I didn't practice hard enough to get a solo in front of the prime minister, I would be severely punished.” The rest of the boys stopped walking and looked at Taehyung stupefied.

Jimin knew very little about Taehyung, but just by hearing him say that comment, he was able to sympathize and understood a bit why Taehyung was having a difficult time being accustomed to other families. “Uhm,” he broke the silence to quickly change the subject, “let's go to the dance department next. It’s my area of study.”

They didn't walk very far until they reached a dance studio. They walked into the room and were greeted by the female dance teacher running through the choreography of an SF9 song. She stopped dancing when she noticed four students staring at her on the glass wall. She turned off the music and grabbed a towel to wipe her sweat. “Well, hello Jimin and friends. What can I do for you boys?”

“Well Mrs. Seulgi, my friends and I came early to find out what my brother would like to study here at school.” Jimin smiled, “I wanted to see if we can show him an example of the choreo we're working on.”

Mrs. Seulgi nodded, “of course. What would you like to show him?”

“I was actually thinking about showing him the routine we were working on for our upcoming Dance Showcase performance, if that's okay?” Jimin stated as he began to take off his shoes and hand his bag to Chanyeol.

“Well of course, Jimin,” the instructor played a song entitled Fantasy. The sound of a piano playing filled the room as the dancers got into position. Jimin and the instructor both started in the same position; they stood still until the deep voice of the singer was heard and they slowly glided their feet, one behind the other to the left. Then as soon as a voice harmonized with the instrumentation, the two performed a backwards cartwheel and landed softly on their feet and got down onto their knees. They stayed in that position until the beat began and they pumped their chest to it. As they go up from the ground, with each syllable the singers gave, they performed a variety of body movements individually. When the song started to build up to the chorus towards the end, the dances quickly stepped away from each other before turning to face each other for the impending front flip they were going to perform. The beat dropped indicating the beginning of the chorus. The dancers flipped, twisted, twirled, and danced passionately as the music coursed through their veins. Their choreography was powerful and demanded the audience’s attention because every move they performed personified the song and its message with fervor. When the piano took over the last couple of measures of the song, they used their foot that was on the ground to push themselves off the ground and land on their knees. 

Taehyung watched in amazement, he has never seen someone dance with this much ardency in person. He sighed as he continued to watch the rest of the dance. As he watched them finish the dance, his stared at himself through the mirror, disregarding the performance. His eye racked through the image of his body before concentrating on his knee and cringed as he felt a tingling sensation. “Are you okay?” Taehyung looked up and saw Jimin right in front of him, breathing heavily and sweaty, slightly startling him.

The music was turned off and eyes were on him, “yeah. It's just that I damaged my knee a while back, and when I see you dance, I'm just afraid I'm going to hurt it again. So, I-I don’t think dancing is for me,” Taehyung looked at them with fear in his eyes after realizing that his comment could’ve been offensive, “I hope I didn't offend you by saying I’m not interested in dance! I-I just d-don’t want to get h-hurt again, t-that’s all.”

“You didn't offend anyone.” Jimin reassured as he grabbed his shoes and put them on, “thank you Mrs. Seulgi, I'll see you later today.”

“No problem, Jimin. Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you knee gets better soon, Taehyung, it wouldn’t hurt to try dancing sometime,” she said when she put on music and continued to dance the routine she was doing before the boys showed up.

The boys walked out, with Chanyeol leading the way into the empty hall. He stops in his tracks, causing Baekhyun to bump into him, “what's the big idea, babe?” Baekhyun steps next him and grunts, “Oh fuck, really, not them again. I thought we dealt with them last time.”  
Jimin steps to the other side of Chanyeol and sees a three guys crowded around one who was cornered “Is, is that Mark?” Jimin questioned as he squinted his eyes to get a better look.

Chanyeol shook his head in frustration, “yeah,” he gritted his teeth, “it is.” He began to walk to the group and grabbed the nearest guy surrounding Mark, he pushed him against the lockers before saying, “why do you stuck up wannabes always pick on my friends?”

The guy scoffed and spit on Chanyeol’s face, “that's none of your business.” He pushed Chanyeol out of the away, “don't touch me again, faggot.”

The guy against the locker watched Mark quietly walk away from the corner shaken up to stand in between Jimin and Baekhyun. He noticed another guy standing there but didn't say anything for the moment. Taehyung, on the other hand, took a small step away Mark, making three pairs of eyes fall upon him. The trio made eye contact with each other and smiled.

“Hey Jimin,” the one in the middle called. He was wearing black skinny jeans along with black combat boots, a black beanie, and a leather jacket to cover his white shirt underneath.

Jimin glared at him, irritated. “What could you possibly want Jungkook?”

He laughed, “hey man, take it easy.” His eyes wandered back to Taehyung, “just wanna know who our new chew toy is. Never seen him around here before.” Jimin stepped in front of Taehyung protectively before Jungkook could get a better look.

Chanyeol scoffed, “fuck off,” as walked back to his friends and wiped his face with his t-shirt.

The two guys beside Jungkook gasped, sarcastically. The one with the black-blueish hair, completely black outfit, besides his red shoes, held a hand to his chest. “Excuse me?” He lowered his hand into his pocket, “we just want to know the kid’s name.” He looked at Taehyung, “here let's start off easy.” He said with faux politeness, “Hi, I’m Suga, what's your name?”

Taehyung looked at Jimin in fear and wide eyes, unsure of what to do; Jungkook and the one in blue sweater who was standing besides him noticed this. Jimin shook his head ‘no’ and faced the three guys again. “Why don't you just leave and-”

He was cut off by the boy in blue, “shut the fuck up Jimin.” He walked closer to Taehyung, but was forcefully stopped when Baekhyun put a hand on his chest to stop him from getting any closer.

Jungkook clapped as he began to laugh, “my man J-hope just wants you to tell us your name, we won't do any harm, at least not now anyway.” When he didn't get an answer, Jungkook signals his boys to push everyone aside and make way for him to reach Taehyung, who was desperately clinging to Jimin’s sleeve. J-hope pushed Mark and Chanyeol causing both boys to end on the floor, while Suga pushed Baekhyun and Jimin aside, leaving Taehyung exposed to whatever Jungkook had in store for him. 

Jungkook haughtily walked up to him, invading Taehyung’s space which caused him to visibly shake and look at the ground. Without any indication, Jungkook pushed him against the wall and growled, “you're really starting to piss me off,” he had a firm grip on Taehyung’s shirt collar while the other hand was tangled in Taehyung’s hair, forcing him to rest his teary eyes on Jungkook. “Who are you?”

Tears blotted Taehyung’s vision; he was about to have a break down if someone didn’t help him. “T-T-Taehyung,” he stuttered quietly, trying not to make it noticeable that his lungs weren’t working properly.

“Let me tell you something, Taehyung. Whenever me or my boys tell you to do something, you better do it or else.” He added pressure to the base of Taehyung’s throat, before he was harshly pulled away. Taehyung inhaled deeply and held his hands to his chest, seeing figures in front of him, but his eyes were glued to Jungkook and his friends; his fear and anxiety swallowing him up as his memories resurfaced and came crashing down on him like tsunami waves. “We'll see ya around Taehyung, you're a cute one, but not for long,” Jungkook threatened before he and his boys began to walk away, “keep an eye out! You're gonna need it!” he yelled around the corner and disappeared.

Taehyung saw four figures in front of him but couldn't identify who was who, his eyes weren't focused as he tried to push the bad memories out of his head. He held his arms together and concentrated on his breathing, the calling of his name falling on deaf ears, as a nauseating feeling started to tickle up his throat. Taehyung’s eyes scanned the hallways briskly; they stopped on a sign that read, “restroom,” he pushed through his friends and ran into the restroom with his hand over his mouth. He ran into one of the stalls and locked it shut. He fell to his knees and began to spew his breakfast and last night's dinner into the toilet.

“Taehyung!” The sound of footsteps echoed through the bathroom. Jimin leaned his head on the only stall door that was closed, and sighed as he heard Taehyung gagging as he vomited into the toilet. “Tae? I'm sorry about all of this, I-I thought we weren’t gonna run into them. I’m s-sorry we couldn’t stop Jungkook. Just open this door, yeah? Let me see if he hurt you or-”

Taehyung interrupted as he spit out the taste of vomit from his mouth and laid his head back against the stall, letting the tears stream down his cheeks,“I was so scared, Jiminnie hyung. I-I thought he was-”, he sobbed and curled into himself, “I don’t wanna live like this anymore. I don't k-know w-what I’m d-doing wrong.” His crying intensified, “It's always t-the s-same thing Jiminnie, o-over and over a-again. E-everywhere I go, I get picked on a-and treated b-badly. Why? Why? Why?” he yelled, “J-just someone tell m-me and I’ll fix it. I-I promise I will.”

Jimin fell silent as he listened to Taehyung ramble, not able to say a comforting word to the broken boy. “Nobody likes m-me. I s-still keep going. I-I try to be good and do w-what they tell me t-to, but I still g-get the same c-crap,” Taehyung sniffled and got up from his knees and onto his feet to flush the toilet, Jimin stepped back from the door as he heard the toilet flushed. Taehyung opened the door and washed his hands without saying a thing to the boys in the room. His eyes were puffy and red, face swollen and had the worst head ache. Taehyung splashed some cold water on his face and dried it before making his way to the bathroom exit door.

Just as Taehyung was about to walk out, Jimin grabbed his hand, disregarding the promise he made earlier. “You're not alone Taehyung, as cheesy as it may sound. You're not the only one who had a crappy past.” He looked at their friends standing near him and then back to Taehyung, who was looking down at the floor, biting his lips. “Believe it or not, I had the same problem as you do now, I couldn't trust anybody. It's hard, but you're wrong about today, today you have us. Our dad's love you and they're not one to beat people up and mess them up. They'll help. I'll help. Hell, even my friends will help you, they've helped me and now they'll help you. I promise.” He softly walked up to Taehyung and gently grabbed his face, bringing their foreheads together, “remember what I said Saturday night?” He paused for a moment, and held up his fist, “fighting.”

Taehyung lowered his gaze back down to the floor and wiped his face. He felt to embarrassed to look up, but he raised his fist in the air, “fighting.”  
“That's my brother!” Jimin swung his arm around Tae and gave him a tight hug. Jimin lead him out of the restroom along with everyone else. He checked his watch and sighed, “we didn't get through all of the departments, nor did we get your schedule. We’re also late for first period. But you know what, you could just follow me all day, and we can finish everything after school, yeah? Sound like a plan Tae?” Jimin only received a small nod, “great!” He waved to his friends, “I'll see you guys at lunch, Taehyung is just going to be with me for the day.”

The others nodded in agreement and they went their own separate ways. Jimin was talking animatedly as they walked to class, but Taehyung wasn't really paying attention, stuck in his own thoughts. He kept his face low and tried to pay attention every so often as they continued to walk. Finally making it to the door, Jimin opened it and allowed Taehyung to go in first, with him slowly behind.


	6. Chapter Five: First Day 2/2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 3097

The twelve o'clock bell rang for lunch, and half the classroom was already out of the door to bypass the long lines for cafeteria food. Meanwhile, Jimin took his time putting his things away in his backpack, so by the time he was done, the classroom was deserted with the exception of his teacher and Taehyung, who was waiting patiently by the door.

He started walking away from his desk and said his goodbyes to the teacher as he and Taehyung walked out. Once they were in the hallway, Taehyung allowed Jimin to lead the way and quietly sighed, “Alright,” Jimin glanced at him but kept walking, signaling Taehyung to go on, “what class are we off to next?”

Jimin smiled as he passed through the student infested halls and turned the corner leading them into a different hallway before answering, “right now? We're gonna have lunch in the cafeteria and to find the other guys once we get there.” As they continued walking, Jimin noticed Taehyung pull up right beside him to walk all the rest of way to the crowded lunch room. Once they were striding into the room, Jimin pulled out his phone to text Chanyeol in order to ask where they were at. His phone buzzed not a second later and sighed when he read his message. “They're going to take a while to get here, his teacher held him back for a bit.” Jimin exasperated and suggested, “let's just get in line for food. They gonna take a while, and god knows that these damn lines also take forever.”

Taehyung nodded and followed Jimin through the dense crowd of students standing around or walking about without paying attention to those around them. He was a few feet away from Jimin when he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders roughly pull him back, causing him to lose his balance and fall back into the person’s chest. He tried to turn around to see who it was, but his body went slack and face went pale when he heard the person whisper into his ear. 

“Nice to see you again, Taehyung,” Suga whispered as his grip tightened on Taehyung's shoulders, forcing Taehyung to deviate from Jimin’s path and away from Jimin’s sight. They continued walking towards, what Taehyung presumed, was Jungkook’s and his friends table. Suga roughly turned him around to face him and smirked when he saw Taehyung’s frightened face. “Woah, no need to be afraid Taehunggie. We just wanted to see how our new favorite _friend_ was adjusting on his first day of school.”

Taehyung whipped his head to look behind him and saw the nefarious smiles on Jungkook and J-hope’s faces, he couldn’t say anything in fear that his mouth would throw him into an even bigger predicament than the one he is in now, so he opted to focus his vision on the ground. Taehyung wondered if Jimin realized that he wasn’t there with him in line and why there was such an odd spacing between this group’s table and the rest of the students around them. Before Taehyung could get lost in his thoughts, he suddenly felt a pressure on his jaw, forcing him to look up at the trio, and the tight grip on he felt on his arm was for sure going to be bruising. The sudden actions made his breathing stutter and body tense. “Please l-let go of m-me,” he stuttered as he attempted to lessen Jungkook’s grip on his jaw and cheek and pull his arm out of his hand. Taehyung started to hyperventilate; this was too much for him to handle, it was all to similar to his past experiences. He felt weak and he knew he wasn’t gonna be able to get out of this mess alone when he couldn’t find Jimin in the crowd or anyone brave enough to help him, it was like they were in their own little bubble that no one dared to pop.

“Yah!”

Taehyung snapped open his eyes. He tilted his head as much as Jungkook’s grip would let him to find the source of the sudden outburst behind him. J-hope and Suga turned around with a scowl on their faces to see Chanyeol and Baekhyun standing angrily right behind them. Chanyeol reached out to grab J-hope’s collar and forcefully pulled him away, while Baekhyun pushed Suga aside roughly.

Jungkook let out an irritated sigh, “what the fuck do you want?” He gritted his teeth as he stared at Jimin and his friends. He let go of Taehyung’s arm as he neared Chanyeol, putting his hands on Chanyeol’s chest to push him back. Jungkook saw Mark from the corner of his eye walk past him to help a Taehyung who was shaking badly. 

Chanyeol fell back, hitting the table behind and knocking few chairs down. Baekhyun quickly went to his side to pull him up. Chanyeol glared at Jungkook and shouted while flailing his arms around frustrated and walking towards him, “I could ask you the same thing. What the fuck do you think you’re doing? What the hell gave you, shitheads, the right to do as you please? Stop fucking around with us. Are you demented or something? Get a fucking life and leave us, especially him,” he pointed at Taehyung, “alone.” By the time he was done yelling, Chanyeol was huffing hard and staring at Jungkook with hatred. He was so caught up in the moment that he didn’t realize how quiet the cafeteria became, but he didn’t care. 

After a couple of seconds of silence, Suga and J-hope stare at each other, communicating a plan telepathically, and then both of them glanced towards Baekhyun to confirm their next moves. J-hope stealthily crawls towards Baekhyun and stretches his leg in front of him. He cues Suga, who somehow managed to turn up behind Baekhyun and push him, causing him to fall face first. Baekhyun looked up from his position on the ground as Suga and J-hope ran up to Chanyeol to push him away from Jungkook.  
The cafeteria was even more eerily silent as more students watched the scene unfold; anticipating what would happen next.

Meanwhile, Taehyung cowards behind Mark, even though he doesn't really know him, but the friendly reassured smile Mark gave him was enough for Taehyung push his uncertainty aside. 

The tense atmosphere was disrupted by Jungkook’s impulsive laughter in reactions to Chanyeol’s outburst; however, his laughter ceased when he saw someone moving from within the crowd pushing people around behind Chanyeol -- Jimin. Jungkook directed his gaze back to Chanyeol and then towards Taehyung,who was off to the side, giving him a deadpan expression, “Because fuck you that’s why.” Jungkook quickly turned around and strided over to Mark, pushing him out of the way to reach Taehyung by the shirt.

It was as if time stopped for a moment for Taehyung. He couldn’t move, waiting for whatever Jungkook was gonna do to him, but line of sight focused on Jimin in the background running towards him. Jungkook held up a fist, and Taehyung knew that this fist held a completely different meaning than the ones he and Jimin used. Taehyung's eyes widened and memories of flying fists hitting his body were brought forth and played in his mind. The memories kept flooding in, one by one getting worse, causing Taehyung’s body to react violently. He moved Jungkook's hand from his collar and pushed him hard. Jungkook fell straight onto his back, head hitting the floor with a loud crack.

The whole cafeteria gasped. Taehyung’s vision blurred, palms sweating profusely and shaking, and knees weak. He didn’t notice that Jimin was standing in front of him, preventing him from falling to the ground.   
Suga and J-hope stare at Jungkook on the ground grunting in pain. J-hope promptly goes his side, in the meanwhile, Suga glares daggers at Taehyung, face scrunched up in fury. “You little bitch! You'll pay for that!” he yelled. Suga began making his way towards Taehyung, slamming chairs down and moving tables aside, when his shoulder was roughly gripped. He turned around to see Chanyeol, flames of anger dancing in his eyes.

“Don't even think of touching him.” Chanyeol clenched his fist trying to calm down.

“Fuck off,” Suga spat on his face, hearing Chanyeol growl loudly.

He clenched his fist even harder and swung it, colliding nicely with Suga’s face. Suga gripped his face in pain, swaying side to side.

J-hope had somehow managed to get Jungkook up from the floor with his arms around Jungkook waist to aid him walk and both made their way to Suga. The trio made their way out of the cafeteria without saying another word. Jimin checked Taehyung over, making sure he was alright to stand by himself. He let Taehyung go and held his hands softly to try and ease his shaking hands.“I think we should go, come on,” Jimin said and signaled the rest of the boys to follow them. Jimin walked out with his hand lightly resting on Taehyung’s lower back in a comforting manner.

Taehyung brought up a shaky hand to his head and stopped walking. Jimin looked at him concerned and asked Taehyung what was wrong. “I-I really f-fucked u-up, huh Jimin h-hyung?” Taehyung asked rhetorically and closed his eyes tightly. His legs began feeling like jelly again, he held on tight to Jimin’s arm. “I-I d-don’t think this w-whole school t-thing was a good i-idea.”

“Nonsense,” Jimin said firmly as he aided Taehyung to sit on the empty hallway floor. “You’re doing great, Tae, considering all that has happened. You have to be the strong. We know that Jungkook and his minions might not leave us alone for a while now, but we can't give them the satisfaction that they succeeded in messing with us.” He squatted to Taehyung's level and looked at him straight in the eyes. “The fact that you pushed Jungkook to the floor, just shows that you're capable of doing anything and won't let anyone bring you down. Believe in yourself.”

Taehyung sighed and hung his head down, “I was just compulsively r-reacting from f-fear. H-he was about to punch me, it made me remem-” he stopped himself before continuing. He looked up and stared into Jimin eyes before lowering them again, “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like how?” Jimin asked. 

“Like you care. L-like you want to keep helping me. I don't know why, we've only known each other for a few days,” Taehyung exasperated.

“Haha, well there's good in you, Taehyung, and I want to help because you're my brother, foster brother, but that’s besides the point. I care because you’re family and I won’t stand by watching my family get beaten bloody by a bunch of buffoons, ” Jimin stood up with a smile and held his hand out, waiting for Taehyung to take it.

Taehyung softly laughed, “there's something about you too, but I can’t put my finger on it. I just trust you,” he finally grabbed Jimin's hand and stood up, “however that doesn’t mean I’ll automatically trust people I just barely met, like your parents and your friends for example.” 

“Everything will change,” Jimin thought about giving Taehyung a hug, but thought against it for now and saved it for another time. “I'm not sure what happened in your past and I don’t want to know until you’re ready to tell me,” he noticed Taehyung immediately frown but continued, “but I'll make sure that you'll never fall back where you started. I promise.” He smiled and saw his friends starting to make their way to them.

“Where to now?” Baekhyun asked, “we lost our appetite, what about you guys?”

Taehyung and Jimin both weren't hungry either; they all stood there until Chanyeol spoke up. “Why don't we just go to the music department, I'm sure my teacher wouldn't mind.”

They all nodded and followed Chanyeol. The walk was pretty long, but it didn't bother any of them. Once they got there, Chanyeol made a grand entrance. “Hello Mr. Lau nice to see you so soon in the day.”

Mr. Lau, more famously known by a majority of students as Henry, jumped in his seat behind his desk and stared at Chanyeol in surprise by the sudden entrance, “oh, you startled me Chanyeol.” He rubs his temples as he smiled at the boys, “what brings you to my class so early in the day?”

“I just wanted to show my new friend, Taehyung, the music department. We're trying to enroll him a performance art he’s interested in.”

“Fantastic!” The teacher watched Taehyung shift his feet, “Do you have an interest in playing an instrument, or have you had any experience?”

Taehyung turned his head to Jimin, then back to the teacher, “I have a few years worth of experience,” he said shyly. Jimin shifted his gaze from Mr. Lau to Taehyung, slightly confused, but intrigued.   
“Really?” Mr. Lau asked, a bit relieved that he didn’t have to teach a student how to play an instrument. “What do you play?”  
Taehyung bit his bottom lip, “saxophone.”

“Impressive,” was all that the teacher said. He walked over to a fairly large closet and pulled out a case. Mr. Lau slowly put the case in front of Taehyung with a smile, “I hope you don't mind me hearing what you got.”

Taehyung stared at the case and slowly opened it, letting the memories of his saxophone days occupy his head. He pushed them back and grabbed the saxophone with shaky hands. He saw a small bag, ripped it open, and grabbed the small piece of wood to put into his mouth. He then took hold of a different part and began to assemble it. Once he's done he grabs the reed from his mouth and locks it in place on the head of the instrument. He finds the strap and attaches it to the back and pulls it over his head, letting it hang from his neck. He finally looks back up at the small crowd in front of him, causing his hands nervously. “I-It’s been a few years since the last time I've played. Please excuse me,” he put his lips on the head of the saxophone and blew into it.

His mind drifted along with the melody he began to play, closing his eyes and moving his fingers to create a slow and steady tempo. Each note flowed smoothly transitioned into each other and when he reached a certain long note, he leaned backwards to express how the emotions built up in his soul. After he was done playing the suspended note, he earned a few gasps from his friends. Taehyung felt at peace running through the notes of the harmonic progression, even though it wasn't something he commonly felt, he enjoyed every second of it.

Once his song came to an end, he opened his eyes and reality struck him in the chest. He felt a pressure build in his chest, but it wasn't from embarrassment, it was from something he couldn't describe.  
“Taehyung,” his attention was directed to the teacher, “that was astonishing. That piece was something I’ve never heard before. It was overflowing with so much emotion, performed with such talent,” he stopped himself and took in a deep breath to calm down. “I would be extremely pleased to have you in my class. Your musical expression is strangely similar to Chanyeol’s. Both so very talented. Perhaps it comes from the heart and you're not just playing notes or making a tune; instead, you're producing an amalgamation of your experiences through these notes. It’s absolutely stunning.”

Taehyung couldn't help but smile, softly. He bowed, “thank you.” He removed the saxophone from his neck and started to speak again, feeling embarrassed. “Would it be alright if I enroll in your class, starting tomorrow?”  
Mr. Lau nodded rapidly, “of course! I wouldn't mind you starting on any date. I sure hope my other students can not only learn from Chanyeol, but also from you.”

Once Taehyung finished putting the saxophone away in the case, he handed it back to his new teacher, “thank you again.” The rest of the boys began to walk out of the door and Taehyung took the hint to follow behind them.  
“That's two things that you're good at,” Jimin said with a huge smile, holding two fingers up excitedly. “No need to go through the other departments, you already found what you're interested in and amazingly talented at!”  
“And, I can finally share a class with someone that doesn't annoy me!” Chanyeol cheered, “we can work together when the group projects come along!” He was so excited but then frowned.  
“What's wrong Channie?” Baekhyun asked concerned.

Chanyeol turned to Taehyung, “I really want you to be in the class no matter what, but I'm not going to lie in your face.” Taehyung and the rest of the group were staring at him, he scratched the back of his head. “I forgot to mention that Suga is in the class as well.” He stared into Taehyung's wide eyes, “nothing will happen as long as I'm there, Tae, promise. He won't lay a finger on you.” He smirked, “plus, maybe that punch to the face from earlier showed him not to mess with us.”

Taehyung seemed uneasy, “you sure? I'm pretty sure I've pissed off their leader too. Won't they report us or something?” Taehyung chewed on his bottom lip as Chanyeol and Jimin giggled.

“They won't,” Jimin said with a smile. “They believe that their reputation is so much better than anything else. They're not gonna go to anyone ‘cause they're a bunch of pussies. Also, everyone saw, so it’s not like we don’t have any witnesses on our side.” He laughed and so did the rest of the group. Taehyung smiled slightly, and nodded as he listened to Jimin.

The bell rung aloud and the empty hallways were once again filled with swarms of students.The boys sighed in annoyance, besides Taehyung, who had no idea what the bell meant. “See you two after school,” Chanyeol held out a peace sign and began to walk away, with Baekhyun and Mark in tow, waving goodbye.

“Let's get this day over with,” Jimin says teasingly as he directs Taehyung to follow him. “It's been a long day. And I know we both just wanna go home.”

Taehyung nodded, agreeing with Jimin because really this whole day has been uneventful and all he wanted to do now was sleep to forget everything that happened.


	7. Chapter Six: Promises and Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, the next update won't be until next week. What do you guys think of the story so far?

The car ride home was pretty silent, with the exception of few a comments being thrown around. The boys didn't have much to say after the incident during lunch, the atmosphere was still a bit tense. They were emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted from having to deal with the Jungkook and his two hyenas, and it was only the beginning of the new semester, who knows what the trio is planning now that the boys stood up against them. The silence continued until Chanyeol pulled up to Jimin’s house, turning off the engine. They all got out of the car and entered the house.

They all walked into the living room and slumped themselves over the couch with heavy sighs. Taehyung, on the other hand, threw his bag down and laid himself on the floor with his eyes closed. The rest of the guys just stared at each other confused and concerned before glancing back to Taehyung, who seemed unbothered by the events that transpired.

“Uh, Tae?” Baekhyun saw him open his eyes and turn his head to look at him. “Are you in any pain?” Taehyung looked at him puzzled and shook his head. “Are you sure?” Baekhyun asked as he got up from the couch to kneel down next to him. He softly held up his chin for a moment, staring at Taehyung’s neck before he flinched away. “Did Jungkook add that much pressure to your neck?” Baekhyun stood up, “I'll just get you some ice.”

Jimin and Chanyeol stood up as well and looked down at Taehyung, who was now sitting up on the floor, running his fingers over his neck. “What's wrong?” He held up his head for the two to see clearly. He saw Jimin's worried face and Chanyeol’s upset expression, but couldn’t comprehend their sudden concern over him.

“What an asshole,” Jimin said, cringing a bit as he felt imaginary hands around his neck, “I can't believe he put his dirty paws on you like that and left you that mark, that little dick.”

Baekhyun came back from the kitchen and tossed Taehyung a pack of frozen peas to press against his bruised neck. Afterwards he sat back down on the couch next to Mark with his legs propped up and arms crossed.

“I just don’t understand why do people like Jungkook and his bitches always gotta fuck with us?” Chanyeol rubbed his temples and sat back on the couch, “I didn't know things would go this bad when they showed up, and now you have his handprint on your neck to show for it. I'll make him pay for it.”

Jimin sat on the floor beside Taehyung, “how are we going to tell our dads?”

Taehyung eyed him, “do we have to tell them? I-I don't think it's that serious…”

Everyone looked at Taehyung, taken aback by his statement. Jimin cleared his throat before saying, “you don't need to be afraid about them. They're just going to do their best to make sure that Jungkook won't touch you again.” Jimin eyed his throat, “and it is pretty serious, I don't think we can hide it from them. It's starting to turn a little purple.”

“I’ll just ice it a bit, and cover it up with some make-up,” Taehyung said as he held the ice pack around his neck, “I’ve done it b-before, so it’ll be fine. If they, uh, find out, I’ll tell them you guys had nothing to do with it. I mean, I'll tell them the truth, just leaving you guys out.”

“Eh, I don't know,” Chanyeol said, scratching the top of his hand. “I know Jimin's parents very well. They seem to know everything like some sort of sixth sense. Like you could have a papercut in the morning and forget about it, but once you get home, they start asking a million questions about the paper cut, as if it was such a big deal,” he exasperated.

“Also, they're teachers and our parents, Taehyung,” Jimin added, “they know more than we think. Especially, if one of us got injured. Any odd behavior elicits a series of questions from the-”

Taehyung suddenly shot up from the ground miffed, “well it doesn’t matter anyways! They should know what to expect from someone like me and-” The boys looked at him puzzled, wondering what he was going to say next, but they faintly heard a car pull up in the driveway, followed by its car alarm. “They're home, I should go upstairs,” Taehyung stated as he grabbed his bag and tossed the ice pack back to Baekhyun and proceeded to quickly, but carefully, go up the stairs. Before he disappeared into his room, he yelled, “please, don't tell them!” and closed the door.

Downstairs, Jimin turned to his friends panicking, “I've never lied to my parents. What do I do?!”

The boys sat in silence for a second, internalizing what Taehyung said and trying to figure out what the best course of action was. Baekhyun sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “maybe Taehyung's right,” they heard a knock at the door, but Baekhyun continued as he, Chanyeol, and Mark picked their bags up to go, “just say he didn't have a good day, you're not exactly lying, but you're not telling the truth. It's a win-win situation. They won’t know.” Baekhyun stood behind Jimin as he opened the door for his parents, “good afternoon, sorry we didn't mean to intrude,” he greeted them, “we were just heading out.” He tossed the ice pack to Jimin and waved good-bye.

“Oh okay,” Jin stepped aside, letting the boys pass, “drive safe.” He entered the house with Namjoon behind him, closing the door. “Rough day, didn't go as I thought it would,” he sighed and removed his large coat. “How was your day Jiminnie? Where's Taehyung?” he asked, looking around for the brown-haired boy.

“Uh, it was p-pretty rough too. And Taehyung is upstairs,” Jimin stuttered, suddenly fascinated by the thawed peas.

“What about Taehyung? Did he have any problems?” Namjoon asked, removing his jacket.

“Um…”

“What happened?” The two adults asked simultaneously.

“He just had a bad day…” Jimin avoided their eye contact and began squishing the soften peas.

Namjoon raised his eyebrow and looked at Jimin's hands. “Why do you have peas?” He noticed Jimin shift uncomfortably, “what aren't you telling us, Chim?”

“Taehyung, was uh-” Jimin didn't know what to say. He didn't want to lie to his parents nor let Taehyung down without even trying. So he quickly said, “He wasn't feeling well when we got home, so we gave him the ice pack. But he only had it for a few minutes before he went upstairs. I think he went to sleep it out or something.”

Both parents nod hesitantly, not believing him a hundred percent, accepting his response nonetheless.

“Poor kid,” Jin bites his lip. “I'll make him soup, maybe that'll help him feel better.” He hands his coat to Namjoon, who just stares at him, “don't be rude, take this upstairs for me please.” Jin walks away, into the kitchen with a small smirk on his face.  
Jimin noticed that he and Namjoon were the only ones in the room. His father was about to ask him something, but in fear that he was gonna probe more into his and Taehyung’s school life, Jimin mumbled quickly, “I'm gonna check on Taehyung.” He ran up the stairs two at a time to get to his foster brother’s room.

Namjoon sighed at his son’s antics and walked past the stairs into his study, and shutting the door behind him, ignoring his husband’s orders of taking his coat upstairs.   
Jimin waited for him to go into the room by listening to the door click shut and then proceeded to knock on Taehyung's door. He heard some shuffling behind the door before Taehyung opened the door. The smaller boy gently pushed by Taehyung and let himself in, taking a seat on Taehyung’s bed. Taehyung closed the door and sat next to him. “Why can't we just tell them?” Jimin whispered with one hand covering a side of his mouth, he wanted to make sure his parents didn't hear him in case they were eavesdropping through the bedroom door.

Taehyung sighed and fell back onto the pillows behind him, “because they don't need to know.”

Jimin frowned and tried to take a look at his neck again, but Taehyung covered it with his hand. “Let me see it.” Taehyung shook his head, rolling away from Jimin’s prying hands. “I think it's getting worse, if you don’t ice it. They're going to notice it.”  
“Jiminnie hyung,” Taehyung began, “I know you're bad liar. And if you keep insisting to look at my neck you're going to be more tempted to tell them. I don't want you, or them, to freak out over something that doesn’t involve you.”

Jimin stared at him hard and nearly yelled, “it has everything to do with me!” He saw Taehyung flinch away from him, “sorry,” he lowered his voice and exhaled to calm him emotions. He hoped that their parents didn’t hear his almost yelling. Jimin looked away from Taehyung’s form and stared around the well-kept room, “I should've kept you close during lunch. None of this was suppose to happen. But now, Jungkook and his little goons are going to be a problem, almost 200% sure they will be.”

Taehyung squirmed in on his spot, his hand still over his neck, “I know… I’m s-sorry for causing you so much trouble. I promise to keep the bruising hidden as much as I can.” All of a sudden, he got up from the bed to pick up his bag, that traveled with him, chilling in his closet and walked to his bathroom. He locked the door, just to make sure Jimin wouldn’t come in out of nowhere and see his contused body, and pulled from the tattered bag a hoodie. He pulled the hoodie over and checked himself in the mirror to make sure the hoodie part covered a majority of his neck. “Jimin,” He called as he walked out to grab the other boys attention, “I'll just wear pullover like this one until the bruising is gone.”

Jimin walked over to him, inspecting the coverage from all angles possible, and determined that the article of clothing would suffice for now. “Okay, but what about Jungkook? This hoodie won't stop him from messing with you and giving you even more injuries, Tae,” Jimin protested.

“I'll just cover those up too,” he shrugged it off and laid back on his bed, his legs hanging over the edge.

Jimin waved his hands over Taehyung’s face in frustration, “how the hell are you so calm about this? I'm basically shitting my pants just thinking about what might happen.” He finally tossed the soften peas he’s held onto into Taehyung’s lap, sighing while running his hands over his face, “it's nerve-wrecking that you underestimate the situation. Jungkook is not someone we want to be involved with, I mean it.” Jimin laid back on the bed next to Taehyung, mimicking his pose. 

Taehyung turned onto his side to face Jimin and admitted, “you’re right Jungkook is someone we definitely want to avoid, you and Chanyeol stressed that enough to me today. But what’s done is done. Plus,” he paused to find the right wording and spoke slowly, “I-I’ve um, seen worse than what Jungkook could possibly do.”

Jimin turned his neck, “like what?” he shook his head, “sorry. You don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s alright, I guess.” Taehyung assured.

“Really? Then, what?”

Taehyung shook his head smiling and stared at the white ceiling, “I don't even know how I'm capable of having this conversation with you, to be honest. It's weird,” he looked back to Jimin and his smile grew, “I feel like I can, trust you and we haven’t even spent that much time together. It’s terrifying,” his voice wavered, “like I usually don't feel like this with other families until I'm with them for at least three months and haven’t done stuff… But, uh, anyways, I've only known you for a weekend and since the beginning, you've just been there.”

Jimin scooted closer to Taehyung, but was far enough to not cause him discomfort. “I really do care for you, Tae,” he stated, “and I just want you to feel safe with us. I know your previous homes weren’t as good, and I only know very little about it from my parents, but that just made me want to protect you more. Even if your time with us was short, I think of you as my younger brother,” Jimin bit his lips and continued speaking, “I want to watch over you like an older brother would that's why I want to tell our dads everything so that you'll be safer, please Tae.” When Jimin was done speaking, he couldn’t help letting his eyes water up as he looked at Taehyung. This was the first time he ever had a sibling, and he was going to do his best to act like the older brother he was. And, if this meant telling his parents their secret then so be it. He wasn’t going to just stand by and let this Jungkook situation transpire and get out of control. 

Taehyung took a deep breath in and whispered, “just let me try, Jimin hyung. Please just pretend nothing happened today. You can't see my b-bruise so it's not bad. If things start to get out of hand, I promise that we’ll tell your parents, but for now, please don’t say anything to them.” Jimin was about to protest, but decided against it and promised him not to tell his parents for now. Both of them laid there for a couple of seconds, enjoying each other's presence now that they had discussed the most important topic of the day.

It wasn’t long until Taehyung broke the silence, “also, you weren't lying when you told them I wasn't feeling well.”

“You heard me say that?” Jimin asked sheepishly.

“Well yeah,” Taehyung looked away, “I had a feeling that you wouldn't really, uh, say the right thing. Plus, I overheard you say to your friends that you've never really lied to your parents. Sorry.”

“Our parents, by the way, they’re not just mine now, they’re yours too. And that’s understandable,” he sighed in defeat, “I'll trust you with this one, Tae. You can't let anybody see that mark, and if things get worse at school, they really have to know somethings up, alright?” He saw Taehyung tense up a small fraction, “fine, if things get worse we get have to tell them that we have a bully, we don't have to go into detail, unless it’s something really serious and that goes for anything, okay? No secrets from each other either; we’ll tell eachother everything.”

“Okay, promise,” Taehyung glanced back to Jimin, “thank you hyung.”

“Yeah, yeah, just keep you promises, dork.” He scrunched his face letting a smile adorn his face and punched him lightly on the shoulder. Both boys jumped a little in surprise when they heard a soft knock. Taehyung felt the bed shift and saw Jimin staring at the door. “I'll get it, you can just lie down.”

Taehyung laid more comfortably on his bed and pulled a blanket over him towards his face.

Seokjin looked at the door in surprise, expecting Taehyung to answer the door instead of Jimin. “Jiminnie? What are you doing here?”

“I was checking up on Taehyung,” he answered and noticed his dad holding a tray with a glass of water and a hot bowl of soup. Jimin opened the door wider and stepped aside, “I'm guessing that's for him.”

“Well of course!” Jin said, almost too excited, “can't have you kids getting sick and missing out on school,” he teased and let himself into the room similar to the way Jimin did to Taehyung an hour ago. “Taehyung?” Jin put the tray down on the nightstand, “I made you some soup so you can feel better. Eat it carefully, it's hot,” he warned and made his way to the door, “I would stay longer, but I have a lot of work to do for tomorrow's class. I'll call you two down in a few hours, hopefully you'll feel a little better by then, Taehyung.”

Once Jin made his exit, Taehyung flopped over to lay on his stomach. “But, I’m not hungry though,” he stated quietly.

“Just have a few spoonfuls, or else he acts all butt hurt about how no one appreciates his cooking,” Jimin laughs at the thought, “actually, just leave it. It's really funny to watch, but don't worry, he won't be mad.”  
Taehyung smiled and watched Jimin crawl into bed next to him, “I really like the thought of having a brother like you.”

Jimin smiled, “me too.”

\--

“How are we going to get back at those fuckers?” Hoseok grumbled as he slouched over the couch and stared at Jungkook who was sitting next to him, holding his head. “Well?” He inquired.  
Jungkook growled, “J-hope, stop talking! My head is fucking killing me!” He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

Meanwhile, Yoongi was checking himself out on his phone camera, “Chanyeol left me a bruise,” he mumbled to himself and put his phone away in on his back pocket. He looked at Jungkook, “how's your head man? Ya’ need anything?”  
“Nah, I think I’ll be fine in a few,” he said. “Urgh,” he opened his eyes to stare at his friends pensively, “We gotta get back at ‘em, especially Taehyung. That son of a bitch pushed me in front of everybody, it's bull shit. Not gonna let noodle boy get away with fucking up the reputation I built myself.”

“Should we ambush him?”asked Hoseok with a devious grin at his brilliant idea, “we just need to get him away from Jimin and his little group of friends. Not sure how though…”  
Yoongi shrugged, “we can't really plan anything without knowing his schedule.”

“Then we'll just watch him for a couple of days, no biggie,” Jungkook said and laid across his couch, taking his shoes off in the process.  
“He doesn't have one yet,” Yoongi informed. He was met with confused glares.

“What do you mean?” 

Yoongi rolled his eyes, “you guys can't seriously be that clueless. New students don't get their schedules right away, they need to find what department they’re good at.” He started laughing mischievously, “but guess what unlucky soul is gonna be sharing a class with me.”

Hoseok sat up instantly, eyes wide and out gaping, “no way, are you insinuating that Taehyung is gonna be in your department? What the fuck? When did you find out?” He noticed Jungkook sit up intrigued and focused on Yoongi who shrugged indifferently.  
“During lunch, when I went to the bathroom to check the damage and I saw them walking into Mr. Lau’s class, so I stayed by the door and listened,” he answered.

“You sneaky bastard!” Jungkook said with a smile, “Alright then, you just gotta make sure that you find out as much about him as you can.”

“‘ight cool. But I can’t promise that I won’t do anything,” he said. 

“Why the fuck not,” Jungkook asked.

“Well remember that giant who caused this,” Yoongi pointed at his swollen cheek. 

“Park Chanyeol. What about him? Besides him being the one that fucked your face up,” Jungkook replied. 

“Fuck you, rabbit teeth! Anyways, Chanyeol is in the same class, too, dickhead,” Yoongi yelled angrily, face red and hands shaking.

“Calm your shit Suga,” Jungkook stood up, holding his head once again from Yoongi’s uncalled for yelling. “Don't do anything to anybody until we know more about Taehyung. We have to stay out of their way for a few days and if you see them and they see you, do whatever you want, just don't get too physical. Got it?”

Yoongi waved him off calmly, “yeah, yeah. We know.”

“Damn,”Hoseok fell back down onto the couch, “can't believe we're going through with this. I'm actually excited to go to school now.”

Jungkook walked to the coffee table, grabbed his car keys and headed for the front door. “Alright,” Jungkook put on his shoes, “let's go eat. I'm fucking starving, since we didn't eat during lunch.” He started to walk out of the door, followed by the two. Jungkook tossed his keys to Yoongi, “you drive, I'm head hurts too much.”

“Whatever.”

They got in the car and sped off to the nearest fast food.


	8. Chapter Seven: Memory Lane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for not updating last week and thanks for being patient. This chapter is bit long to make up for lost time lol.  
> TW: Past Rape, Childhood Sexual Assault, Panic Attacks  
> If there are any warning we should have listed just comment them, and we'll fix it.  
> Word Count: 6669

Weeks passed by in a blur. The boys didn't have any problems with Jungkook and his friends since the cafeteria incident. Perhaps the worst that happened in those weeks was Taehyung getting slapped upside the head by Hoseok when they passed by each other in the hallway, but that was it, none of the other boys tried to do anything to them. However, Taehyung and his friends still had their guard up in case one of them were to suddenly get jumped by one of the three boys or all of them at once.  
Not only was the school year progressing smoothly, but Taehyung was also beginning to get comfortable around the Jimin and his friends. At first Taehyung couldn't trust him, or any of the other boys for that matter, a whole lot or even look at Chanyeol in the eye while talking with him, besides expressing his gratitude for rescuing him from Jungkook’s grasp, he was a total stranger that hung out with Jimin at school and home who also offered them rides to and from school. Taehyung thought that he would never get used to his presence around him, but Chanyeol would try to make conversation with him, even though it was one sided most of the time. He knew that Chanyeol had the patience to deal with him because never once did he get angry at him when he stuttered or took awhile to respond, which made him feel very comfortable. 

Not only was Chanyeol’s patience a blessing for him, but everyday in Mr. Lau’s music class, he could see Yoongi eyeing him from across the classroom. Taehyung knew he wouldn't try do anything too drastic to him because sitting beside Chanyeol was enough to deter any in-class bullying, but the occasional death glare Yoongi sent his way was intimidating enough to send shivers down his spine.

When they got home on a Friday afternoon, Jimin’s friends stayed for the afternoon at their house to relax and just generally converse about their lives. The only reason Jimin and his friends stay at his house for a majority of the week was mainly because his parents were held back at school attending teacher meetings or completing other duties. Both Namjoon and Seokjin allowed the boys to come over, they just needed Jimin or someone to check in with them once in awhile to make sure they didn’t burn the house down or anything.

When Taehyung walked into the house, he walked past the living room and straight into the bathroom to assess the neck bruise he received as a welcome gift from the school’s delinquents. He pulled down his sweater away from his neck and looked in the mirror, the bruise was still as prominent as ever. Adoring his neck in a light shade of red and faded purple outline, but there were a few spots, he guessed it was Jungkook’s pinky, that held a green hue that indicated the healing process. He frowned at the prospect of having to continue wearing clothes to cover his neck indoors, not so much outside since it was getting a bit chilly, but the school and his foster parents were beginning to turn the heat on inside and he would look suspicious for not taking his sweater and hoodies off in the warm atmosphere. Nonetheless, Taehyung walked back into the living room and sat on the couch quietly while trying not to interrupt the conversation between the other boys.

“My throat is killing me,” Baekhyun rasped and attempted to clear his throat with a cough. “Choir regionals are coming up and Mr. Kyungsoo hasn't given us a proper break. I'm not gonna be able to sing if he keeps forcing the sound out of me,” He said smiling but in reality he was just slightly annoyed at his teacher for forcing him to sing. The boys agreed and began complaining about the rest of their classes and the heinous workload. 

“Do you guys even know how sweaty I get out of practice? It's so tiring and gross, I feel all sticky after class and there’s nothing I can do about it until I get home. But, I’m not complaining ‘cause these abs say otherwise.” Jimin said smiled and lifted his shirt above his chest, showing off his six pack in the making to his friends.

Taehyung took a glance at his stomach and quickly refocused his attention to the floor; his ears burned from embarrassment or was it jealousy, he wasn’t sure but he couldn’t deny that Jimin’s abs were nice to look at. Once he calmed himself, and knew Jimin’s shirt was down, he looked back up and continued to be part of the chatter.

“Nice,” Mark commented and focused his attention back to his phone.

Chanyeol looked at him peeved. He sighed and yanked his phone out of his hand, “Yah! Get off of this stupid thing, it's going to kill the little bit of brain cells you have left. And it’s rude when we’re talking together.”

Mark slouched into the couch, “tsk, fine. I was just texting Jackson, chill. No need to get your panties in a twist.” He turned his attention to Taehyung, “how have your classes been Taehyung?”

“Wait, who’s Jackson?” Baekhyun asked incredulously. 

Mark looked at phone on last time as a messaged popped up, “a friend I met at work, but that’s none of your business.” Baekhyun gasped, feigning to be hurt by Mark’s snarky remark.

“Anyways, Taehyung, your classes?” Jimin directed the conversation back to Taehyung.

Taehyung shrugged, “pretty well.” He cleared his throat, “I'm learning a lot more than I would've if I didn't have Chanyeol. Mr. Lau teaches pretty quickly, so it’s hard to keep up. And other than getting holes drilled into the side of my head by Yoongi, the weeks have been going pretty well.”

Jimin noticed that Taehyung was playing with his fingers as he spoke. He knew Taehyung was still a bit uncomfortable around his friends, so in order to open him up a bit, Jimin tried to pull Taehyung more into a majority of conversations, but if he noticed that it was too much from his foster brother to handle then he would divert the attention elsewhere -- like right now, “That's great Tae, I'm glad this giant was of help.” He stood up, “let's watch a movie or something. I really don't want to think about school right now.”

“I'm down,” Baekhyun stood and stretched his legs. The others getting up as well.

Jimin lead the way into his room.

After the movie ended, the guys decided to have a snack downstairs while talking about the movie they watched. Once they went home, Taehyung walked upstairs, gripping the handlebar tight as he moved up the stairs to get to his room. He didn’t know what was bothering him during the movie, perhaps it was the fact that everything so far, being with Jimin, his parents, and his friends was too good to be true. He didn’t deserve any of this, he was a parasite leeching off this family and sooner or later everything is going to come back tenfold. It’s what his previous families did to him; treated him like their own, made him comfortable and then beat him for taking something he wasn’t aware he took in the first place. Maybe today was that day, but Jimin always reassured him before that his parents weren’t like the others that kicked, slapped, or thrown him aside. And he trusted Jimin’s words more than anyone else’s, yet he was so nervous, afraid even, that his promises weren’t upheld.

Taehyung heaved up the finally steps as his anxiety was settling in, he knew Jimin’s dads were gonna be home in a couple of minutes and he didn’t want to see them today. He didn’t want to risk anything unsavory happening. “Tae!” He turned around and saw Jimin on the bottom of the staircase, “aren't you going to have dinner with us? They'll be home in a little less than an hour.”

Taehyung frowned and shook his head, “I think I’ll pass, I'm not that hungry anyways. I'm just gonna go to bed,” he turned and continued up the stairs, “goodnight.”

Jimin frowned. He didn't know why Taehyung wanted to go to sleep so suddenly when it was literally six o’clock in the afternoon, and he didn’t even eat anything fulfilling yet. To say that Jimin was worried was an understatement, he was concerned for his brother’s sudden mood swings. He noticed during the movie that Taehyung smiled a few times at the ridiculous romcom plot, but there were instances where Jimin caught him shaking his head with a frown. He knows something must be bothering Taehyung but he doesn't know what and how to help. But for now, Jimin thought it would be best to leave him alone and let him talk to him on his own. 

\--

It was a little past nine a.m. on a weekend, Namjoon and Seokjin were down in the kitchen making breakfast. Namjoon was cooking up some scrambled eggs while Jin was making some of his homemade chocolate chip waffles the boys had a liking to. He hummed some tune and smiled while stating, “I've seen some improvement, haven't you?”

Namjoon looked over to Jin, “are you talking about my eggs or your cooking?”

Jin playfully pinched his arm, “no. I'm talking about Taehyung.” He turned to him, “are you saying my cooking is bad?” He waited for an answer, “hm?”

Namjoon rubbed the spot where his husband pinched him and tended back to his eggs, passing them onto the plates, “your cooking is great, babe.” Jin mumbled an ‘I know it is’ and let Namjoon continue, “Yeah, I noticed Taehyung has been doing good; becoming a little more comfortable with us. I think he'll improve a lot more over the next few weeks. Maybe he’ll stop avoiding us so much or something...”

Jin nodded in agreement and attended his waffles, “I was thinking…”

“Oh no,” Namjoon joked but smiled at Jin’s glare, “I'm kidding, what are you thinking about?” Namjoon removed the pan from the flame and placed it on a heat placemat.

“Well I was thinking that we could go to the park today, and we can have a little picnic with the boys. The weathers nice and all. The boys could use some time outside.”

Namjoon hummed, “that's actually not a bad idea. Let’s run it through the boys to make sure they’re right with this, don't wanna force them and cause a scene.”

Namjoon hugged Jin from behind, “I know Namjoon, don't tell me things I already know!” He lightly bit his ear and walked away grinning. “Jiminnie, Taehyung! Breakfast is ready! You guys better be awake!” Namjoon started to walk up the stairs but stopped halfway when he saw them coming down, “Good Morning children! The food’s done,” he walked down with and into the kitchen. Jin was setting up the breakfast table, “sit, sit, Joon-ah grab the plates,” he ordered.

Namjoon served everybody at the table while Jin served the glasses of orange juice. “So I was thinking,” Jin spoke up when he sat down, he looked at the boys. “Would you guys like to go to the park today? We could have a picnic and have some family bonding time.”

Jimin smiled at the idea, nodding his head as he continued to chew on his waffle. “That'll be nice, enjoy some nature while eating dad’s home cooking and talking,” he turned to Taehyung, “right Tae?”

Taehyung choked on his juice at the sudden shift in attention, but quickly recovered, “um, yeah, I guess. I mean it wouldn't hurt to go out.”

“Great,” Namjoon smiled. “We'll go around evening, the weather would is going to be really nice and we’ll be able to see the sun setting.”

Breakfast went by quick as everyone conversed among each other, excluding Taehyung because he was too busy shoving Jin’s delicious chocolate chip waffles in his mouth. There were instances when he would smile and nod, but just continued to eat and listen to the conversations. There was something about this moment that Taehyung wished to cherish forever in his memory. He wanted to forever remember the quaint little breakfast chats and the warm aroma from his foster parents cooking lingering in the air for when things went sour and he had to leave. He really didn’t want to leave. 

As they finished, they did their part in cleaning up. From there on, they did their daily activities and waited for the time to leave.

\--

As the sun was beginning set and the whole family was in the car, on their way to the park near their neighborhood. 

Taehyung stayed silent during the car ride and occupying himself by staring out of the window as trees and buildings passed by just like he did when the Kims took him home on his first day with them. Taehyung knew they arrived at the park when all he saw were wide ranges of land, full of grass, trees and benches along with a cute little pond in the middle. When they got out the car, Taehyung took a deep breathe in of the fresh air, he had has always loved parks and nature in general; it had always seemed to relax him enough to forget where the marks on his body came from and the buzzing paranoia of anticipating whether his body could sustain another beating.

They sat themselves in a bench, under a large tree and Jin took out the food he brought from his bag. He smiled at the scenery around him, the sky was mix of purple and orange blending into each other, and the way the sunlight creeped from in between the trees causing them to look like black silhouettes made it hard to look away.

His attention was only brought back when he heard Namjoon ask the boys something. “So how have things been with you guys?” Namjoon looked at the two boys, waiting for an answer.  
“We’ve been fine pops, why?” Jimin answered for the both of them.

“Just wanted to know how my boys were doing is all,” Namjoon responded. 

The younger of the two parents turned his attention to Taehyung, “did you get sick last night? You weren't with us at dinner last night, Jimin said you wanted to go to sleep early.”

Over the past few weeks, Taehyung was able to talk to them without stuttering or shaking so much; he wasn't so nervous around them anymore but that didn’t mean there was still some awkward tension between them that Taehyung allowed simply because he didn’t trust adults. “I've been doing fine. I just went to sleep early last night because I was tired.”

Namjoon nodded, “what about school for you both? Everything okay?”

“It's actually going really well,” Jimin said, smiling. “My dance teacher is letting me make my own choreography for a song of my choosing, I'm really excited.”

“Oh really? That's fantastic Jimin!” Seokjin clapped his hands, “what song do you have in mind?”

Jimin shrugged, “I'm not sure yet, she gave me the weekend to think about it though.”

Jin faced Taehyung, smiling gently, “I’m sorry we forgot to ask, but what department did you end up choosing, Taehyung? You've lived with us for weeks and we never brought this up.” He shook his head to himself.

“Ah,” Taehyung flashed a boxy smile, “please don't feel sorry, there is nothing to apologize for.” He looked down at his hands, playing with the loose strings of his sweater, and then answered, “I chose the music department. I've shown great interest and improvement over the past couple of weeks according to my teacher. I think he really likes me in his class.”

“Yeah,” Jimin spoke up, “his first impression with Mr. Lau was fantastic. I didn't know Taehyung could play an instrument until I saw him play it. It was astonishing, you guys should have seen it.”  
“Really?” Jin smiled a mile wide, “what do you play? And for how long?”

“I've played the saxophone a few years back for a couple of years. It's been a few years since I haven't played but I still remember how.”

“Wow,” Jin’s eyes sparkled in the sunlight interested in learning more about his foster son, “What got you into music?” Jin noticed that Jimin shifted in his seat and watched Taehyung from the corner of his eyes.

Taehyung bit his lip and spoke without looking directly at anyone, “I have always love music, since I was small. I grew up listening to different genres and everything. I've always wanted to play an instrument. My foster parents at the time let me chose what I wanted to learn, which was the saxophone. I've loved playing with it, it was so much fun and it felt like I was able to make a life out of it.” He sighed, “I used to love playing it.”

“Why did you stop, if you loved it so much?” Namjoon folded his hands on the table, waiting for Taehyung to continue.

“Competitions.” He looked up for a split second then looked away once more, biting his lips deciding just how much he wanted to spill of his past, “my foster parents would take competitions too seriously and would force me to be better. They would hit my hands with a belt for the notes I played wrong or the competitions I lost.” He focused his attention to Jimin then to the table, “It was boring playing the sax their way, I never had any fun. Everything was a competition to them and punishments hurt so much. After being placed elsewhere, I stopped playing so that no one would take advantage of me like that again and ruin my love for music.”

Namjoon and Jin looked at each other and stared at Taehyung taking in all of what he said until Jin spoke first, “just know that we won't take for granted the skill that you’ve built or your love for music, Taehyung. Use your skills the way you would like.”  
“Of course,” Namjoon cracked a smile but then had a soft frown. “Sorry for your past foster parents, it's cruel to think that there are people out there who use kids for the things they want.”

Jimin laid his hand over Taehyung's wrist and gave it a comforting squeeze before he could move his hand. “I'm glad you got what you've loved back, you can play just the way you want now. Don't let anyone change it.” He finished with a smile and his fist in the air, “fighting.”

Taehyung smiled and returned the gesture, “fighting.”

“I like to see how we're all getting along,” Jin stated as he finished serving everyone a plate with potato salad and chicken he had made at home. “Let's eat.”

After they finished their food, Seokjin cleaned up after everyone and unfolded a fairly large blanket and placed it onto the ground. He sat on it and looked around the park, eyes stopping and staring at a tree. “Did you guys know that each tree in this park has story behind it. Like that one for example,” he pointed at a random tree nearby. The rest of the boys looked at him curiously, wondering what he was gonna say next. They sat down next to Jin and stared at the tree he pointed at, urging him to go on.  
“There’s no way of us knowing their story because well they’re trees right? They can't speak for themselves.” He pointed at another tree in the distance, “But we can infer the life they had previously, like why do you think the tree left her lover?”

Everyone shrugged in response and turned to face Jin once again, intrigued at what he was gonna say, “her lover didn’t _treet_ her better, so she _uprooted_ herself from their _stemming_ relationship.” Jin started laughing hard as soon as he finished telling his joke, clapping his hands together and slapping Namjoon on the arm. Jimin began to laugh really loud, while Taehyung tried really hard to hold in his laughter but the more Jimin busted out crackling his resolve crumbled as he laughed loudly into his hands at the lame puns Jin blessed them with.

Namjoon shook his head at his husband’s lame joke, “and here I was thinking that you were actually trying to make a point.” He smiled, “you're really gonna make us all suffer with your old dad jokes, you old man.” He began to chuckle.

“Yah,” Jin got serious and stared at Namjoon, “remember when I used to suffer from a soap addiction, that was really bad and worse than my jokes.” He was met with sympathetic stares, “oh, don't worry. I'm all _clean_ now.” He burst into another fit of laughter and the others joined him again, including Namjoon.

Taehyung's laughter slightly ceased as he saw movement from the corner of his eye. He turned his head to take a glance and spotted a man from afar. He was with his family, presumably his wife and child.

The laughter from his parents and Jimin died down but Taehyung had stopped laughing at this point, still staring at the man with wide fearful eyes and mouth opened slightly. Said man had thrown a football across the field to his son, who happily caught it, laughing. Taehyung kept staring until the man ran to his wife, embraced and kissed her, turning them around so that he was able to look in Taehyung’s direction. Taehyung froze when the man locked his gaze on him, he would never forget.

_Taehyung had been living with the Kyun family for little over a month, and so far he has loved every moment of it. They treated him like one of their own, giving him treats and praising him when he did something good. His foster mother was the best he’s had so far; she would let him help in the kitchen and would occasionally let him eat the sweets in the cupboard under her supervision. Her son, Sungjae, acted like the best younger brother he never had, trusting Taehyung with his childish secrets and sharing his toys with him. But the one person he loved the most in such a short span of time was his foster dad. He would take Taehyung and Sungjae out to the park to play everyday after work and when Taehyung was having a rough day he would treat him to some ice cream at the ice cream parlor down the street. Taehyung thought nothing could possibly go wrong with his time with them._

_But his hopes were inane._

_One night, his foster father had lost a bet with some random guy he didn't know at the bar downtown after work, and he didn't have the money to pay up the bet but he paid with all the cash he had on him at the time. His foster father came home livid; swearing left and right, making nasty remarks, and yelling. It wasn’t until after dinner that he calmed down while sitting on the couch, watching infomercials occupying himself by downing an entire twelve pack._

_Taehyung didn’t know how to approach the situation; he never saw his foster dad get so furious before that it scared him a bit. But Sungjae was there to assure him this was nothing new. His father had a habit of gambling and drinking when the game didn’t go his way; however, his dad hadn’t been this distraught over a game since he could remember, perhaps, Sungjae thought, was because their father hasn’t gone out in a long while to indulge in his risky business.  
After Sungjae explained a bit more about his father’s gambling tendencies and alcoholic consequences, he led Taehyung into his room and told him he could play there while he went to grab some snacks from the kitchen._

_They were quietly playing in the room until Sungjae’s mother came in to ask if the boys wanted to accompany her to the grocery store and a quick trip to her parents house. Of course Sungjae went with his mom, saying something along the lines of “I haven’t seen grandpa and grandma in a while,” while Taehyung respectfully declined because it have been awkward to meet grandparents who weren’t his. They understood and headed out, leaving Taehyung alone in Sungjae’s room playing and his foster dad intoxicated in the living room. It’s been maybe thirty minutes since mother and son left and Taehyung's throat was getting dry. He opened the door of the bedroom, warily, unsure if the man in the living room had drunkenly fallen asleep or was still downing booze. After listening for any sounds from the living room, Taehyung concluded that the man must have fallen asleep and quickly made his way past him, into the kitchen to grab a glass of water._

_He went to reach for a glass in the cupboard, but it was placed a little too high, so stretched his arm as far as he could causing his shirt to ride up a bit. He was so preoccupied in reaching for the cup that he didn’t notice someone was behind him, watching him struggle before finally reaching. Taehyung was pulling his shirt down and readjusting it when he heard someone talk to him, “Ey, Taehyung,” he turned around and saw his foster father making his way next to him._

_“Yes?”_

_“How w-would you like t-to have some fun?” His words were slurred as a took a sip from the beer can in his hand, “what d-do you t-think?”_

_Taehyung looked at him suspiciously before looking around to find the quickest exit if anything went wrong. “Uh, no thanks, I don't think I'm comfortable playing right now,” he replied and quickly served his water and began walking the planned exit in his head._

_“Oh come on,” exasperated the man as he stepped behind Taehyung and softly gripped his shoulders to stop him from walking away. He pulled Taehyung into his chest, took the glass of water and put it down on the nearest surface to avoid any accidents, and whispered in his ear, “it'll be f-fun, I p-promise. Just like the tickle fight you and Sungjae had last night.” He lowered his hands down to Taehyung's sides and began rubbing them, making Taehyung squirm with discomfort._

_“I don't want to play, stop touching me,” Taehyung's breathing became heavy and irregular, he tried to get the man’s hands off his body, but he was too weak._

_The man disregarded his attempts and instead let his one of arms wrap around Taehyung’s waist to stop him from moving and allowed his other hand to travel down the boys back down to his ass to massage it, pinching a few times here and there. “I'll make you feel real good, I promise,” he said._

_“N-No, stop it! Let go!” Taehyung kicked his feet and flailed his arms, luckily he was able to push him away with just enough force to knock the both of them down. Taehyung got up quickly, face covered in snot and tears, and started to run away from the man to lock himself in his room._

_Before Taehyung could reach for the door handle, his foster father grabbed his wrist and yanked him back, covering his mouth with his other hand. “Just relax, Taehyung,” the older gritted, dragging the boy roughly him into a spare bedroom and locked the door behind him. Still holding Taehyung's arm behind his back, the man pushed him onto the bed before crawling on top of him._

_Taehyung was panicking. He didn’t know what to do. He punched, kicked, and screamed, but nothing sufficed. Taehyung tried to scoot towards the edge of the bed, hoping that falling onto the ground would allow him the chance to the door, but the older man simply grabbed a fist full of his hair, pulling his head back towards him; effectively pulling Taehyung back towards the center of the bed. As Taehyung continued contouring his body away from prying hands, he accidentally elbowed his foster father in the face causing him to grunt in pain and put his hands to his face. Without wasting a moment, Taehyung got out from underneath him and bolted towards the door. Just as he was about to turn the lock, his arm was grabbed, pulling away from the door. The man turned him around and slapped in hard causing his head to turn upon impact. It hurt so much that Taehyung brought his hands to cup his cheek and sob, standing still as the man teared his shirt, turning a piece of it into a makeshift gag._

_The man maneuvered Taehyung onto the bed for a third time, but this time he sat on the boys chest to stop him from fighting against him so much and tried to stuff the piece of cloth into Taehyung’s mouth._

_“N-No stop! Please, dad, please don’t do this! I don't w-wanna play with you anymore, let me go!” he sobbed, “Stop p-please, I w-won’t tell anyone just p-please, p-please get off! I don’t wanna do this anymore!” Taehyung pleaded. He yelled, cried, weeped, everything in attempt to persuade the man, he looked up as a fatherly figure, to get off him. To tell him everything he was doing was a cruel joke and everything would stop and go to normal like before._

_The man lowered himself so that his face was near to Taehyung’s. He stared at his red tear-stained face and gripped the bottom of his face hard, hard enough to bruise the poor boy. Taehyung whimpered, he didn’t know what this man was planning next, but could only image as he forced him to open his mouth to stuff it with piece of cloth he ripped from Taehyung’s shirt earlier._

_“We don't want the family to hear when they come back, right? And if they find out about this, I'll make sure you'll never breathe again.” He lowered his gaze and made eye contact with Taehyung, “you'll be a good little boy and stay quiet for me, right?”  
Taehyung kept crying, but rapidly nodded his head. “Okay good, I'll remove the gag when I know you won’t scream. Wanna hear every sound baby.” He quickly removed his own shirt then removed Taehyung's even faster._

_He rubbed his hands all over Taehyung's chest and made his way down to the hem of his pants. Taehyung's breathing hitched as the man neared his private area; a hand slid over the zipper and rubbed over the area harshly._

_The man removed his belt and pants, leaving his boxers on, then doing the same to Taehyung, leaving the boy in underwear. Taehyung whimpered and more tears escaped his closed eyes. “It's okay Taehyung, everything will be fine,” he removed Taehyung's boxers and glanced at his dick, gripping it lightly._

_The man picked up Taehyung's legs and placed them over his shoulder, sliding off his own boxers in the process and leveling himself into Taehyung's entry. He glided his tip over his entry way and forcefully pushed inside. Taehyung screamed and began to struggle more. Taehyung scrambled to get away from the intruding body part that was tearing at his insides, but both of his arms were gripped and held down to his sides, “Don't struggle or it'll hurt even more.”_

_Once the man was fully inside of Taehyung he began to slowly move his hips, sliding in and out of Taehyung. After a few movements, he increased his speed and deepened his thrusts, hitting Taehyung's prostate with every thrust._

_Taehyung cried and screamed bloody murder. It hurt so bad like someone was trying to tear him apart into two. White hot pain shooting up his spine overwhelmed whatever spot the man was hitting that confused him by sending little sparks of pleasure. But it wasn’t enough, his whole body wailed at the on slaught of torture that it was tiring for him to keep struggling. Eventually he just laid there under the man, unmoving, waiting for everything to be over or for someone to come knocking on the door to save him. “I'm almost t-there Taehyung.” He began to thrust at an animalistic like speed and the sound of skin slapping filled the bedroom._

_Suddenly Taehyung’s body convulsed, he couldn’t breathe. Some white liquid like substance splashed onto his stomach and the man's chest. The man still continued to pounding into his pliant body, wreaking havoc on his now extremely pained and how sensitive form. After a few more grueling thrusts, he felt the man reach his climax inside of him._

_The man pulled out and quickly put on his clothes and using a dirty towel to clean up his chest, acknowledging the blood and cum coming out of the boy’s hole. He threw it at Taehyung, “clean yourself up. Filthy bitch.”_

_Once he finished putting on his clothes, he took the cloth out of Taehyung's mouth, “say a word and I won’t hesitate to kill you.” He walked out of the room, leaving the door slightly opened._

_Taehyung laid on there on the soiled bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. A loud cry ripped out his chest as he turned to the side recalling what just happened. After a while the man came in again and yelled at him to get up. Taehyung without a word got up as fast as he could and quickly changed, trying his best to ignore the stinging pain from his rectum and lower back. He ran into his room and slamming, locking the door shut. Finally he curled up in bed crying and shaking, questioning the gods what he did to deserve this._

Taehyung was still stuck in remembering the traumatic event that he didn’t hear his foster parents calling his name several times, until he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder. He pulled away and stared at the other three men.

“Taehyung, what's wrong?” Namjoon sat up and neared Taehyung, a little bit.

Taehyung tried his hardest not to panic or make a scene, “n-nothing. I'd j-just really like to g-go home now i-if that's okay?”

Namjoon and Jin looked at each other but nodded, “yeah sure, if you want.” Namjoon stood up and helped Jin fold the blanket and placed it under his arm.

Taehyung and Jimin stood up and began to slowly walk up to the car, waiting for their parents to show up. They stood there in silence, waiting for a few moments until they heard footsteps behind them. Taehyung turned around to the two making their way to the car, but he focused on the man behind them and made eye contact with him again. He couldn't look away, but only stare at him in fear; the man smiled and winked at him, running back to his son as he threw the football.

Taehyung's breathing became irregular and attempted to calm himself down before anyone noticed it. He quickly got in the car once they unlocked it, closing the door and ducking down to make sure that man wasn’t able to see him from within the car. He knew his family was staring at him worried about his sudden behavior, but he tried to focus breathing and closed his eyes, trying to block everything out. He hated that man. Hated him for deceiving him into thinking they accepted him, for making him feel like he belong with them, for loving him like their own. Taehyung despised him for hurting deeply over and over again. Everything from that night, and the nights after that, flooded his brain and he couldn't even think about anything else to forget it. Images of himself being held down, forced into compromising positions, and threatened into lying about what really went down behind closed doors.

Once everyone else was settled in the car, Namjoon looked into the rearview mirror to check on Taehyung, who was sweating, shaking, and breathing heavily. He heard him mumble a few words and suddenly yelling, “Stop!” 

“Taehyung,” Namjoon looked over once again. “You want me to pull over? Will that make you feel better?”

Taehyung nodded his head, “yes p-please. I need, I need air. I’m sorry, pullover.”

Namjoon nodded numbly, and followed the boy’s order. He pulled up into an empty parking lot not far from where they lived. Taehyung flew the car door and got out before he could vomit all over the back seat. Jin hurriedly got out of the car to rub Taehyung’s back as he dry heaved. 

“It’s okay Taehyung. Relax. Breath in,” Jin cooed as comforted him and helped him with the breathing exercise, “there you go, now breath out. You’re doing great buddy.”

After a few minutes of breathing, Jin pulled Taehyung into chest, rocking him back and forth, as he continued to cry. Jimin and Namjoon shared a pain expression because there was nothing they could in the moment to calm him down. Minutes passed as Taehyung was able to calm himself down to a couple of whimpers and sniffles with the aid of Jin’s encouraging words. He clung onto Jin’s shirt like a lifeline because if he let go then he’d sucked back into reliving that hellish nightmare. 

“C-can we go home now?” he whispered into Jin’s shirt. 

“Yeah, of course we can. Do you want me to ride in the back with you?”

Taehyung nodded. Jin motioned for Jimin to take the passenger seat while he helped Taehyung back into the car. Namjoon continued the drive home glancing at the backseat occasionally through the rearview mirror. The drive home felt like an eternity before they arrived, Namjoon unlocked the front door and entered, as Jimin and Jin helped a weak Taehyung out of the car and into his room.

Just as they were leaving, Taehyung cried out, “don’t leave me please!” He let himself fall onto the ground and let himself cry as more memories started pouring over him. Jimin quickly went to his side and helped him up onto the bed. He nodded to his parents, telling them he’ll stay with Taehyung. They worryingly said, “okay,” and left downstairs. 

“I’m not going anywhere, Taehyunnie,promise,” he reassured and sat down next to him, pulling Taehyung’s body close to his. Taehyung let a loud sob escape his body as he latched onto Jimin, remembering every second of that man’s abuse, crying himself to sleep.

Downstairs Jin and Namjoon sat quietly in the kitchen. “Where did we go wrong?” Jin scratched his head, “he was having so much fun…”

Namjoon sighed, “I don’t know, honey. One second he was laughing and the next he just… wasn’t himself. He looked so scared.”

“Of what?” Jin asked.

Namjoon shrugged exasperated, “not sure. He probably encountered a trigger that reminded him of his past families or something. Maybe talking about them wasn’t the best idea. We know he didn’t have the best experience with a majority of them.”  
“You're right,” Jin sighed. “I can't help but to think it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have probed about his saxophone skills.”

Namjoon argued, “you're not the one to blame. I saw Taehyung laughing with us when you said those lame jokes. I noticed him just stopped laughing so suddenly and was stare at something, but I didn’t think much of it, when I probably should have. Whatever he saw triggered him.”

Namjoon walked around the counter towards Jin.

“We just need to give him time Seokjin, a trauma doesn't just go away.” He wrapped an arm around Seokjin, “let’s just go upstairs and call it a night.”

They walked upstairs and heard sniffles behind Taehyung's door, “he needs time Seokjin. Let's just keep an eye for him and support him, like you did today, if anything happens.” They quietly continued walking into their own room and closed the door.


	9. Chapter Eight: And The Truth Runs Wild

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry ;-; This chapter is emotionally packed and was edited/written while listening to Troye Sivan's Heaven. Forgive me. 
> 
> Word Count: 2623
> 
> Warnings in the tags apply.

Jimin woke up early the next morning in his bedroom. He left Taehyung’s room after he made sure the younger boy was fast asleep. Ever since last night's park incident, Jimin had been feeling nothing but regret and disappointment. He regretted not being able to protect his younger brother from the nightmares that plagued him like he promised Taehyung the first few days he was with them. Jimin disappointed himself for not living up to that promise and image of the older brother persona he wanted to be for Taehyung. 

He walked out of his room quietly and made his way to Taehyung's room to check if he was okay. Jimin thought about knocking on the door to warn Taehyung that was coming in, but he thought that maybe he was still asleep so he opted to disregard the knocking as to not disturb his slumber. Jimin slowly opened the door just wide enough to pop his head in. He looked into the room and onto the bed that was missing a body. Jimin panicked and tried to opened the door wider to see if he could locate where Taehyung went. It wasn’t until the he tried to forcefully push the door open some more that he saw a foot blocking it. Jimin quickly stuck his hand into the the small space to try to push Taehyung’s feet from blocking the door. Once he was able to opened it wider, He saw Taehyung sprawled on the ground on his side.

Jimin’s eyes widened and rushed inside the room, he knelt down next to Taehyung and turned him over to his back, checking to see if there were any visible injuries. “Taehyung, are you okay?” He slightly shook him when he didn't get a response, “Taehyung.” He said a little louder, shaking his shoulders frantically. Taehyung still didn’t move or make any indication of waking up. Jimin was distraught and yelled, “Taehyung, wake up for god sake!” How he didn’t hear his parents running down the hall towards the yelling was a mystery to him. 

Taehyung whined and pulled his arms over his face while curling away from the source of the sudden sound. When nothing touched him, he opened his eyes to see Jimin's fretful expression. Taehyung uncurled himself slowly and asked, “What’s wrong? Did something happen? Why did you wake me up? I was sleeping.”

Jimin sighed and slumped his shoulders. He looked at Taehyung while raising his eyebrows, “on the floor, Taehyung? Did you sleep here the whole night?” Looking closely at Taehyung’s face, Jimin noticed how red and puffy Taehyung’s eyes were and the tear stains marking up his cheeks. How did he not before? Jimin shook his head at himself for not paying attention and focused on Taehyung again, continued bombarding him with question he knew Taehyung probably wouldn’t answer, “What's wrong? What happened last night? Why are you sleeping in the floor when your bed is literally right next to you?” Taehyung looked at him flustered, not knowing whether he should answer.   
Taehyung checked his surroundings as he sat up, answering slowly, “It's nothing, really. Just reminded of some things I'd really like to forget…” He stood up from the floor and laid back on his bed, closing his eyes to prevent Jimin from seeing them get watery as he remembered the memories that resurfaced last night.

Jimin sat on the bed near his head, and pulled it into his lap so he could stroke Taehyung’s hair for comfort and waited for Taehyung to continue, even if he had no intention to, which in Jimin’s opinion was perfectly okay for him to do. “I saw a family that I used to live with, all good people, except for one,” Taehyung mumbled as he bit his lip and let out a shaky breath. Keeping his eyes closed, he mashed his face against Jimin’s shirt to hide his tears, “H-He’s a very bad, bad person J-Jimin hyung, and I c-couldn’t do anything a-about it. I-I can’t do anything about it n-now.”

Taehyung let out a few soft sobs and flinched when Jimin tried to pat his head again. He took ahold of Jimin’s shakily and pushed it away. He removed his head from Jimin’s lap and sat up, “please don't t-touch me right now.” Everything was becoming to overwhelming and Taehyung needed space to breathe. 

Jimin nodded in understanding and motioned for Taehyung to continue when he's ready.

Taehyung stared at Jimin and took a deep breath to calm his nerves, “I w-want to t-tell y-you, but-” he neared him a bit, eyes never leaving his, tears decorating his eyelashes “you _c-can't_ tell _anyone_. Okay? P-promise me! P-please let me trust you with t-this, hyung. I know you're going to think that you can h-help, but you c-can’t.”

Jimin was hesitant, “Okay, I promise.”

Taehyung let go of the breath he was holding, and looked around the room nervously until his eyes focused on his reflection from the mirror closet doors. He stared at himself through the mirror in disgust and shame. As he begun to speak, tears cascaded from his eyes, “They were s-so nice to me at the b-beginning. Everything was p-perfect and I-I l-loved them,” his voice cracked, “B-but I was so, so dumb, I was stupid, to suspect that n-nothing bad would happen.” Taehyung covered his eyes with the palm of his hands crying remembering the betrayal wash over him, “There was a day where h-he lost a some b-bet to a guy and d-drank so, so much. He was scary, h-hyung, no, he was t-terrifying when he drank, b-but nobody c-cared. T-they just ignored it and t-told me not to b-bother him. And I did, hyung, I swear I was being such a good boy!” Taehyung couldn’t help it anymore, he broke down. 

Jimin watched his younger brother fall back onto the bed and curl onto his side, covering his face. He felt horrible for letting Taehyung recite his traumatic memories, but he knew it would be for the best if he told someone he trusted; that someone was him. Jimin let out a shaky breath as the tears spilled over his bottom lashes. He couldn’t stand seeing someone he cared about in pain; he thought that children in general shouldn’t be exposed to the unspoken, taboo, unforgiving workings of the cruel reality they lived in. He knew from first hand experience. 

While, Taehyung bawled his eyes out, he continued speaking, stuttering actually, “I-I was playing w-with my foster b-brother until he and his m-mom were out… All I wanted w-was a glass of water.” More tears and silent screams, “I c-could've done s-something. I could've s-screamed louder, p-pushed away h-harder, or r-ran away faster. I’m such a coward, hyung; I’m a weak and filthy coward.” He sucked in a deep breath. He couldn’t do this anymore, no matter how much he wanted to get it off his chest, he just couldn’t. Taehyung felt sick. He felt revolting as he felt ghost hands running up and down his body, pressing into the same places that man pressed into.

Jimin's eyes wandered over Taehyung's shaken form, taking into account his knuckles that were turning white from pulling his hair so hard and the laboured breathing which signaled that the younger boy was beginning to hyperventilate. Jimin didn’t know what to do -- how to comfort him when he clearly didn’t want to be touched, but he had to try. Before Taehyung, it was him in this similar position, pouring his heart and laying his insecurities bare about his early childhood to his parents. 

Jimin slowly crept closer to Taehyung’s body and placed his hands as gently as possible over Taehyung’s in order to stop him from pulling on hair to harshly and to bring his arms down from his face so that he could breathe easier. Taehyung flinched away from the initial contact and kept still like a puppet, letting Jimin maneuver his arms around as his mind was swept up in a torrent of self-deprecating emotions. He couldn’t hear Jimin’s soft words telling him ‘everything's going to be fine’ and ‘you’re safe’, but they rung in his head over and over again unconsciously. Jimin on the other hand, watched Taehyung even his breathing a bit, but continued to wheeze and cry and look at him with the most heart-wrenching expression. Jimin stopped repeating the phrases and didn't say anything, letting more tears adore his face. He waited silently for Taehyung to say something, anything. But he wouldn’t so Jimin gave him one of the most caring expressions in hopes that it would encourage him to continue.

They looked at each other in silence, unaware of how much has passed since Jimin walked into the room. 

“He dragged me into a-an empty room and l-locked the d-door,” Taehyung sputtered. He noticed Jimin move closer, but didn't say anything or move away. “H-He…” Taehyung sobbed, covering his mouth making sure Jimin's parents didn't hear if they were around. 

“He r-raped me, hyung,” Taehyung whispered.

“Taehyung-”

“I-I told him no, but he,” deep breathe, “ he k-kept going. I p-punched and s-screamed and k-kicked to show him I didn’t want it! B-believe me, hyung, please, I didn’t want it, I-I didn’t,” he repeated.

“Taehy-” Jimin was at lost for words. He didn’t know what to do, nothing.

“You-you don’t b-believe me! You-you think I-I deserved it, huh? That I was some f-fifthy w-whore asking for it!” Taehyung was hysterical. His head was a mess. He couldn’t process what his mouth was spilling. 

“No! Taehyung list-” Taehyung was having none of it.

“Stop l-lying to me! Stop lying!” Taehyung was gone, swept away; carried by the onslaught of memories that just wouldn’t go away no matter how much he forced himself to push it back. However the more he pushed, the more he sank deeper into the abyss not able to register what he was doing externally.

On the outside, Taehyung looked like a madman. His face was red and blotchy with snot and tears everywhere. He screamed as if someone was going to kill him. His hands were running over his body, trying to push away the imaginary hands only he saw, scratching his skin raw to get rid of the nonexistent dirty on his body. But the worst of all, in Jimin’s opinion, was the way Taehyung seemed to be gasping for air while chanting a consistent stream of ‘stop’ and ‘please’, trapped in his mind. 

Without thinking, Jimin picked Taehyung up into his arms and brought each other down onto the ground on the side of the bed. Taehyung squirmed in Jimin’s grasp, trying to get away from the other boy thinking that it was the same man holding him down in his brain. But Jimin held onto him with an iron grip, hugging him tightly as he too cried at the feeling of hopelessness and regret that he forced Taehyung to relive one of his worst nightmares. 

Taehyung screamed and screamed, Jimin didn’t know what to do for the nth teen time that morning. All he could now was hold him and apologize for pushing him so hard when Taehyung obviously struggled to tell him in the first place. They desperately needed his parents.

“Dad! Papa!” Jimin cried. He couldn’t do this, he just couldn’t.

“I’m sorry, Tae. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m so sorry,” he wailed.

It felt like eternity for his parents to walk in and find them. During this time, Taehyung got eerily quiet and still. Jimin pulled him back to check if he was alright, but all he could do was scream again.

“Daddy! Dad! Papa! Help!” Jimin yelled louder. Why haven’t his parents come yet? Why couldn’t they hear him screaming? Were they ignoring him like his past parents? They couldn’t be right, Jimin thought. 

“Pa-” he began.

The bedroom door flew open. Jin came in quickly and saw both boys on the ground. He took note that Taehyung wasn’t moving and Jimin looked like he was on the verge of having another episode. Next Namjoon came in with a first aid kit in hand in case one of the boys was physically hurt, but once he got there he knew the pain was else where and much harder to fix. They were transfixed by the situation occurring in front of them 

“Dad, Papa, help me,” Jimin wailed. 

That was enough to bring both parents back from shock. They didn’t ask questions, they just moved. Jin lifted an unconscious Taehyung from Jimin’s grasp and lifted him onto the bed. He instantly recalled the procedure the doctor’s advised from of Jimin’s emergencies, ‘if he passes out, and is still breathing raise his legs above heart level to increase blood flow. If he is not breathing, loosen belts, collars, or any other constrictive clothing.’ Jin began stretching out the collar of Taehyung’s sleeping shirt and then propped his feet up with some pillows and other things he found around the room.

Meanwhile, Namjoon pulled Jimin up from the ground and embraced him. Rocking his body back and forth, like he’s done in the past to calm him down. Jimin pressed his face against his father’s shoulder and just let go. He sobbed loudly while yelling he was sorry and that it was his fault this happened. But Namjoon ignored those phrases and opted to whisper praises and words of comfort such as ‘it’s okay’, ‘you did great’, and ‘we got you now’. 

“But, but, Taehyung and, he, and,” Jimin couldn’t speak straight.

“Shh, Jimin, it’s fine. Nothing bad happened. Calm down, Jin will take care of Taehyung,” Namjoon soothed as he patted Jimin’s head.

“Namjoon, can you take Jimin downstairs or anywhere that is not here,” Jin commanded as he looked over Taehyung for the third time to make sure he wasn’t injured. Namjoon agreed and tried to walk Jimin out of the room.

“Wait, no, stop! I can’t leave him alone, Papa!” Jimin retaliated. He began pulling his body away from Namjoon’s and tried walking to the bed. Sadly, Namjoon was able to pick him up from the waist. Jimin kicked and screamed to be let down.

“I’m not letting go Jimin. We need to get you out,” Namjoon stated as calmly as he could, contrary to his heart that was beating a mile a minute and his thoughts that were jumbled. 

“But-” Jimin started, only to be cut off.

“No, Jimin, you need to get out. This is bad for you.” Jin stated.

“Bu-”

“Get out.”

Jimin stopped struggling and let silent tears decorate his face some more. He let Namjoon pull him out of the room, only for him to collapse on the ground once again.

“He hates me now,” Jimin whimpered, “he’s gonna throw me out.”

Namjoon was shocked. He kneeled down in front of him.

“What, no, Jimin. You’re not being thrown out and he doesn’t hate you.”

“Yes he does! You heard what he told me!” Jimin angrily yelled, “you guys are gonna throw me out like-like... ” He crumbled.

Namjoon sighed. He always hated when Jimin like this, so insecure and broken, like the child him and Jin worked so hard to build into a happy little boy unbothered by his past.

“Awe, come here, bud,” Namjoon held his arms out. Jimin looked at him surprised and cautiously crawled into his father's lap to finally fall into his arms like he used to as a small child.

He buried his face again into Namjoon’s shoulder and stained his shirt with more tears. Namjoon rubbed the boy’s back and just let him recommence his crying while once again muttering soft words.

“It’s okay. I got you.”


	10. Chapter Nine: Chit Chats for the Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 2379

After Namjoon removed Jimin out of the room, Jin stayed behind in order to watch over Taehyung, until he woke up, busying himself by cleaning the room up a bit. Finally, Taehyung opened his eyes to see Jin neatly stacking his textbooks on his desk in the corner of the room. He was about to sit up from the bed when Jin rushed over to him and pushed him back down and stated, “You need to stay in bed Taehyung, at least for a few minutes.”

Taehyung nodded slightly and followed his command without making any eye contact. He laid there, staring at the ceiling as Jin removed the pillows and other junk from underneath his legs. Once he was done from removing the things, Taehyung turned onto his side facing the wall, ignoring what Jin was doing.

As Jin placed the pillows and miscellaneous items back to their original positions, he couldn’t help but worry about Taehyung. Not saying that he wasn’t worried from the start, when him and Namjoon picked him up from the child center, but he was a lot more worried for the kid now considering that throughout Taehyung’s stay with his family, everything was peachy. What could have possibly been the catalyst for him passing out in an emotionally unstable Jimin? Why did the boys end up the way they are now? How did this even happen? These were the questions plaguing Jin’s mind, to which he had no inkling of answers to. All he knew was that Taehyung passed out, face wet, in Jimin’s arms crying for his parents to help him. 

Jin breathed in deeply to calm his rampant conscious and turned his attention back to Taehyung, who looked so much more weak and scared than Jin has ever seen him, and softly spoke to him, “Taehyung, are you okay? You were unconscious when Namjoon and I came into the room. We were really worried about you.” 

He watched Taehyung carefully, scanning his face and body again to make sure he didn’t miss any injuries Taehyung could've sustained in this ordeal. For a second, Jin lost his composure when he noticed small yellowish-brown bruising around Taehyung’s neck which looked to be healing for the last couple days. Jin’s concern for Taehyung well-being grew more and dread started to seep in as well. When did he get these bruises? Who gave them to him? Why is he hiding it? Does Jimin know? Did he cause them? The last question Jin immediately regretted cross his mind. There was no way his son, whom he has seen grow from his own struggles, hurt another person intentionally. He absolutely has no doubts that Jimin didn’t do it, but he can’t be too sure. After all, Jimin’s psychologist did inform him of the possibility that Jimin might get hostile during a stressful situation. And what happened this morning was definitely a stressful situation for him. But for now he needed to focus on Taehyung, and he can trust that Namjoon has Jimin covered.

Taehyung hasn’t answered whether he was fine or not, which was a dumb question in Jin’s head, of course the kid wasn’t fine or else he wouldn’t be lying in bed shaking so much. Nevertheless, Jin continued asking away to at least get some sort of verbal response to calm his nerves

“Do you need anything? Is there something you wanna tell me?” He asked slowly.

Taehyung quickly turned his head to face Jin, and croaked, “what?” 

Jin was taken aback by Taehyung’s confusion, but Taehyung was even more confused as to why Jin, or anyone for that matter, wanted to know what happened. Usually nobody asks Taehyung what went down in his perspective, so this was frighteningly new for him-- he didn’t like it. 

Jin cleared his throat, “I mean is there something I should know about your… um….medical history,” smooth Jin, let’s narrow the possibilities of what happened down without sounding suspicious, “Do you often pass out randomly or under stress? I just wanna make sure that you passing out doesn't happen again, want to avoid it as much as possible.” Jin mentally applauded himself for not sounding too awkward.

Taehyung focused his attention back to the wall, unaware of what his foster dad was trying to get at, “no, it doesn't happen randomly… mmm… I guess it happens when I'm really stressed. I’m not sure, never really paid attention to it.”

Jin nodded his head and stood up, “okay. I'm going to get you some water, I'll be right back.”

When Jin walked out, he left the door open allowing Taehyung to hear the TV from downstairs while in bed. As he laid there, he began to feel queasy, so he got up and made his way towards his bathroom in case something were to come up. The first thing he noticed when he walked in was his reflection in the mirror. He took notice of his stretched out collar and puffy face from crying too much before blacking out. He signed and proceeded to washed his face in the sink. Once he was done he opened his eyes and leaned against the sink, staring at himself again in the mirror watching the water dripping from his face and a few strands of hair.

“Taehyung, are you okay?” questioned Jin when he walked back into the room, as he saw the bathroom light on and a missing Taehyung from his bed. 

Taehyung blinked and poked his head out through the doorway for Jin to see, “yeah, I'm fine.”

“Alright, well, I brought your water. Drink it while it's still cold, I'll be downstairs. Come down when you're ready, okay?”

“Sure.” 

Taehyung waited for Jin to close the bedroom door, but he never heard it click. He walked out of the bathroom to see the door left wide opened and he went to close it, but heard distant chattering. He couldn't hear what was being said; however, he could make out Jin and Namjoon’s voices murmuring and faintly make out the word, “worried”.

He closed the door softly and drank his water. He didn't want to go downstairs after everything that had just happened. He eyed the clock from the corner of his eyes, noticing that it was almost noon.

He was thinking about staying in room for the rest of the day, but disregarded that idea once because Jin told him to come down, and he didn’t want to make Jin worry if he didn’t. 

He waited on his bed a few more minutes to gather some courage before finally deciding to go out. As he made his way down, he stopped halfway down the stairs, making sure to check if there was anyone behind him and clenching the railing firmly, and sees Jimin laying his head on Namjoon's lap on the couch watching whatever was on the television. As Taehyung continued his journey down the stairs, he completely tried to avoid garnering Jimin’s attention on him and walked right passed them as quietly as he could. He didn't doubt, though, that they didn't notice him walking by because Taehyung felt eyes their stares on him as he continued to walk into the kitchen.

Taehyung ignored Jin’s gaze from where he was leaning on the island counter, placing his cup in the sink and sitting down at the table to play with the hem of t-shirt. Jin softly smiled at his actions, happy that he decided to come down, and sat next to him, gently and slowly grabbing his hands and brought them up on the table, caressing them. 

“You gave us quite a scare, you know that?” Jin said.

“Sorry,” Taehyung apologized, trying to divert his attention from Jin. He didn’t want to talk to anybody right now. 

“Why are you apologizing? I don't want an apology from you, or from Jimin,” Jin held Taehyung’s hands a little firmer now, “I'm not sure what happened this morning, but I would really like to know, if that’s okay with you.”

“Uh, I-I can't it's like a, uh, it's just very personal,” Taehyung was starting to feel anxious now, he shouldn’t have come out of his room. Jin could feel Taehyung's hands beginning to shake, which caused him tighten his grip a little more comfortably.

Jin sighed and looked behind when he heard someone walking into the kitchen. It was Namjoon dragging a nervous Jimin behind him. They both sat down at the table with Namjoon sitting on the other side of Taehyung while Jimin sat next to Jin, opposite of Taehyung. Both of the boys avoided each other's gazes, creating an awkward atmosphere between the four.

Jin looked at Namjoon while shaking his head toward the boys, asking his husband to do something about it. Namjoon shrugged at him and addressed their kids, “I'm not exactly sure what happened between the both of you this morning, but I'm almost positive that no one is appreciating the bad vibes at this table,” he looked at the two, “Jin and I are here to help you guys when you need it, but we can't help you if we don't know what's wrong.”

Jimin hummed while looking at the table, before commenting, “it's nothing, really. I-I was being a pain in the ass to Taehyung, and I forced him to tell me what was wrong.”

“Okay and what did he say?” Jin prompted, as he and Namjoon turned their attention to him. “We want to help with whatever it is that caused this to happen, so please do tell.”

Jimin looked up with a worried expression, and noticed Taehyung staring at him, silently pleading not to say anything. 

“I can't tell you. I promised to keep it a secret.”

Namjoon nodded in understanding, “alright, we get it. It’s okay Jimin.” 

He turned to Taehyung, “do you think you can enlighten us on this secret too? We promise not to judge or anything, like we said before, we just want to help.”

Taehyung didn't hesitate in shaking his head, “no. I'm sorry, I-I just can't. I--” 

The memories started to pervert his head again. He yanked his hands away from Jin and covered his face, murmuring to himself, “I just want this to stop. I don’t want to remember it.”

“I think we shouldn’t push him to tell us yet,” Jimin said, catching both parents attention.  
“He really doesn't want to remember any of this, can we please just let it go for now?” Jimin noticed that he was speaking in a slightly rude tone to his parents, but decided to let it go for now.

Jin exhaled deeply and leaned back into the chair, “Alright. Taehyung, you can go to your room now if you really need to. We’re sorry for trying to push you into talking.”

Taehyung didn't say anything, but nod and quickly walked away from the table, quietly excusing himself to his room.

Jimin was about to get up too, until Namjoon held his hand, “this doesn't necessarily mean that we're done talking with you, Jimin.”

“I'm sorry,” Jimin didn’t look at his parents, shame and guilt eating him up. 

“Then just let us know how you're feeling.” Jin added, hoping to get somewhere with one of the boys.

“I-I don't know how I feel,” Jimin mumbled, “I feel like I betrayed Taehyung by not being able to help him when he needed me the most. And I hate myself for that. When he was unconscious, I-I couldn’t do anything. Everything felt out of my control, I didn’t know what to do… ”

Jin got up to hug his son.

“Awe, it’s okay, Jiminnie. We understand how you feel,” Jin continued talking as he patted Jimin’s head reassuringly. “But we all also need to watch out for your health too. Namjoon and I know that seeing stuff like this can be triggering for you. We want just want you to be okay too, sweetheart. It’s been a very long time since your last episode, and we don’t want one to happen now, so we’re trying to clear everything up before anything bad happens,” he explained, now holding Jimin’s face in his palms to look at him.

Namjoon spoke up as well, “and besides, Jimin, we didn't remove you from the scene because we didn't want you to help Taehyung, but we had to think of what was best for the both of you. I don't ever want you to feel like one of us doesn't love you, because we do.”

He turned to Jin, who was confused by the last statement, “he thought you were gonna kick him out when you told him to get out of the room, which translated to him thinking you didn’t love him anymore.”

Jin’s eyes widened, “what?” He turned to Jimin and engulfed him into an even bigger and tighter hug, “oh honey, no. As we said before, we love you and I only said that because I didn't want you to have another episode. Like I said before and I can’t stress this enough, it's been so long since you've had one and I plan to keep it that way. You’re getting better. And as for Taehyung, we’re still trying to get to know him better and show him that he’s safe here with us. So I needed to focus on him. I’m sorry you thought that way, baby.”

He felt Jimin nod at his words and heard him mumble an ‘I love you, dad’ before letting him go. The poor boy looked like he was crying into his chest evident by his wet lashes, puffy red eyes, and sniffles. He also looked a bit tired from everything that happened thus far, so Jin wiped his eyes and said, “we love you too, Jimin. Now go upstairs and take a nap. It looks like you need it, kiddo.” 

Jimin nodded and went off to his room, occasionally wiping his nose from the excess mucus. Both parents watched their son go upstairs and once he was out of their view, they sighed deeply trying to figure out what the next best step would be to figure out how to deal with this mess and figure out what the hell happened in that room this morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMg, guys, we're sorry for not updating like we promised we would, but things are getting hectic now since school starts in a few and we need to get our shit together(aka get our summer projects and shit done). So updates are going to be slowing down now. We've also been doing more research about a majority of the topics this fic touches upon in order to create a more accurate representation of those topics. This chapter isn't the best but it's something for those who were waiting. By the way, what do you guys think of the story thus far? Any questions, concerns, or just comments are welcome!!


	11. Chapter Ten: Boys Cry A Lot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG SORRY FOR THE DELAY !!! SENIOR YEAR STARTED LAST WEEK AND WE STARTED A NEW KOREAN CULTURE CLUB AT SCHOOL, SO GETTING THE PAPER WORK DONE FOR THAT TOOK A WHILE + AP CLASSES GOT US SWAMPED THIS YEAR.  
> ALSOOO BTS HIGHLIGHT REELS !!!! LIKE WTF ;-;  
> ANYWAY HERE YA GO ISSA LONG CHAPTER TO MAKE UP FOR THE ABSENCE
> 
> Word Count: 4862

It was Monday today and both parents decided that the boys deserved a well-needed break from school for a while after the stressful weekend to figure out how to remedy the situation. Last night, the dads settled on one of them stay with the boys to make sure nothing happens and Jin decided that it would be him to stay, which aroused complaints from Namjoon because he thought it would be best if the both of them stayed at home, but Jin shot him down. And now it was early morning with a worried Namjoon who keeps insistently asking if they would be okay without him. 

“Are you sure you'll be fine with them alone?” Namjoon asked Jin as he fixed his collar in the vanity mirror, “I can stay today too.”

“No it's fine,” Jin reassured as he say sat up on his bed, facing Namjoon to watch his lover finish getting ready for work. “If there's a problem, I'll call you right away Joonie.”

“Promise?”

Jin smiled and walked up to Namjoon, turning him around and wrapping his arms around his neck, “promise.” He placed a soft kiss on Namjoon's lips, “you should go now, you're already running late.”

Namjoon walked out of their bedroom and decided that he should check on the boys before he left. He went to Jimin’s room and opened the door slightly to see his son curled under a blanket, sleeping soundly. Closing the door softly, he made his way to Taehyung's room, repeating the same process. He peeked inside and noticed that Taehyung was in a similar position as Jimin, curled up under his blankets, cuddling his pillow, except for the mumbling in his sleep. Namjoon closed the door and turned to Jin, hearing him come up behind him. 

“Make sure to call me, I'll answer even in the middle of a lecture.”

“Yah, I got this. I know how to handle things if they get bad. Now stop worrying so much, you big goof, and go teach English,” Jin said as he pushed him outside. Namjoon nodded and allowed Jin to walk him to his car.

Seokjin waved him goodbye as he drove away. He walked back inside and took note of the time. There was about an hour left before the boys were to wake up and start getting ready for school. Jin didn't tell the boys last night that they weren't going to school, so he walked up stairs and into Jimin's room, very quietly. He grabbed Jimin's phone and turned off the alarm he set the night before for school. He didn't need to go to Taehyung's room because it was usually Jimin or himself that would wake him up. Today, Jin thought he would let the boys sleep in.

Seokjin went downstairs and into the kitchen to get some breakfast ready for the boys and himself, even if they did wake up really late, he’ll just heat it up for them then. As he was cooking, Jin started thinking to himself about how he would approach the boys once they woke up, more specifically Taehyung. Jin didn't really know much about him besides the basics like his birthday and some other random things the younger boy has told him during the last three months he was with their family. But Jin wanted to know more about him such as his experience with past foster homes and what happened Sunday morning in his bedroom, which Jin has a feeling it has to do with one of his past families. Maybe he can convince Jimin to tell him, but that probably won't happen considering how his son is a man of his word. He could convince Taehyung to tell him through Jimin, but the possibility is less likely since the tension between the both of the is undiffused. And getting Taehyung to talk on his own about it is even more of a challenge. Would talking to them about the bedroom fiasco trigger them both? How should he approach them? Would it be best to just leave them alone? Jin signed. He didn’t know how to remedy the situation. 

Once he was done cooking breakfast, he sat down and went over the options in his head on how to best deal with this. He shook his head begrudgingly and decided to approach them normally, and watch them more carefully. He figured it’d be best to remind them that this home was their safe space and that him and Namjoon were their support. 

Three hours have passed since the boy were suppose to wake up for school, and neither of them have come downstairs. Jin worriedly heated up their food and decided to bring it up to them in case they were awake and just didn’t want to leave their room. When he knocked on Jimin’s door, to see if he was awake, he heard Jimin talking to someone on the phone, probably Chanyeol or Mark about the material he missed in one of his classes and the homework due the next day. Jin walked in, startling Jimin, and placed the plate of food down on his desk motioning him to eat before walking out with Taehyung’s food in his hand. As Jin neared Taehyung’s room, he heard the shower on and Taehyung singing over some poppy boyband song. Jin entered quickly, before Taehyung could notice that someone was in his room, and placed the plate of food on the vanity and scrawled out a note on a post-it note he found telling him to eat. In reality, neither boy ate the food left in their room. So instead Jin cut up some fruit and left it in the kitchen in case they were hungry and there would at least be something for them to eat. 

He placed the fruits into small bowls and leaving it in the fridge before going upstairs to take a short nap, hoping nothing drastic happens while he’s away in dreamland.

\--

Later on that day, Namjoon and Jin were leaving the house to get some Christmas shopping done. They were thinking of taking the boys with them, but they thought that it'll be best if Taehyung and Jimin just had a day at home without the watchful presence of either adult. Neither of them still didn’t know about what went down in Taehyung's room on Sunday morning. They had tried talking to both of the boys throughout the week, but they preferred to not talk about it and locked themselves in their room when they had the chance to. Both parents also noticed that neither boy attempted to converse with each other, going as far as to leave the room if one of them walked in and actively ignored each other, well Taehyung ignored Jimin while Jimin tried to make some attempt at reconciling with him. But it was useless if Taehyung didn’t want to acknowledge his existence. And yet, The Kim family didn’t push Taehyung into speaking with them, so they just let him be until he was comfortable enough to seek them out.

Once they got in the car, Jin grabbed Namjoon's hand and turned to talk to him, “I still can't help but think that this was my fault. It’s been days, Joonie. When are they going to tell us? I’ve never seen either of the boys so hung up on something. Taehyung seemed so delicate about what had happened.”

Namjoon sighed and spoke as he turned the car engine on, “we talked about this before Seokjin, we can't blame ourselves for what happened that morning. We can only wait until one of the boys open’s up to us.” 

“But what if they never open up to us and makes it worse?” Jin said worriedly as he watched the scenery change as they made their way to the grocery store. 

“Then, we’ll deal with it when it gets to that point. Trust them a bit, Jin. I’m sure they’re just as stressed over the situation as we are.” 

“But-”

“But nothing. Stop worrying so much, and have some faith,” Namjoon said sternly.

“Fine, BUT if it gets out of hand we have to something about it. Also, you missed the turn for the grocery store. Where are you going?” Jin looked at him slightly annoyed at his husband. 

“We're changing route today,” he pulled into the mall parking area. “Now before you say anything, all I'm gonna say is that we’ll handle the situation if it gets bad and we haven't done any Christmas shopping yet, so we're starting today.” Namjoon turned the engine off and got out of the car.

Jin opened his mouth to say something, but instead followed his husband’s lead as they walked into the building. When he tried to talk again, Namjoon knowingly covered his mouth with his hand and spoke, “hopefully while we’re here it can give the boys some time to talk it out. We’ve been helicoptering them too much lately. ”

Jin removed his hand and huffed, “Okay, first of all no we haven’t. We’re just paying them extra attention is all. And secondly, what are we getting them for presents?”

\--

Meanwhile, back at home, the boys spent their time in the living room quietly; not speaking to each other. Jimin is well aware that his parents take a long time to shop for groceries, but this time taking them forever to come back home. He was sitting on the couch by himself (ever since this morning) and Taehyung hadn't spoken a word or even attempted to looked at him throughout the week. Every time he saw him, Taehyung just hung his head low as he played with some app on his phone that Jin and Namjoon gifted him after his second month with them.

Jimin sighed as debated whether he should break the awkward atmosphere, but instead he decided to flip through some channels to distract him. As he was trying to find something good to watch, he heard the sound of footsteps coming downstairs. He turned his head and spotted Taehyung going into the kitchen to presumably get something to drink since the sound of liquid shaking was heard.

Jimin switched his attention back to the television, but then smiled when he got an idea. He was gonna fix this. Jimin stood up and ran up the stairs, leaving Taehyung staring him from the kitchen entrance, shrugging him off. Jimin ran into his room and grabbed a few blankets he had in his closet and ran downstairs, bumping into Taehyung in the process.

Taehyung stared at him blankly and began walking up the stairs when Jimin softly grabbed his wrist, stopping him from walking up more. Taehyung had slightly flinched and didn't say anything, but turn around and face him, waiting for him to say something. Jimin only smiled and dragged him to the couch. He slightly pushed him so that he could sit down, which he did, before commanding him to, “Stay here, and get comfortable.” Jimin ran off into the kitchen and came back minutes later with a bowl of popcorn in his hand and two cans of soda.

“Jimin, I don't feel like-”

“Shh,” Jimin placed the bowl of popcorn on Taehyung's lap and tossed the sodas on the couch. He put on some random comedy movie and sat himself on the other edge of the couch, a few feet away from Taehyung. “We are going to sit here and watch this movie, then when we're done with it, we are going to have a brotherly conversation. Deal?”

Taehyung just stared at Jimin who just smiled and spoke again, “Can you pass me a soda?”

Taehyung scoffed, but smiled at the same time at whatever Jimin was trying to do, “fine.” He tossed Jimin a soda and opened the other can for himself, turning his attention to the screen.

During the movie, Taehyung noticed Jimin looking over to him; however, he ignored it and kept his eyes on the screen. Many thoughts ran through Taehyung’s head of the prospect of this ‘brotherly talk’ Jimin mentioned they were going to do once the movie was over, such as: ‘what are we going to talk about after the movie is over?’, ‘Is he just going to judge me?’, and ‘Maybe bully me for it?’

The more Taehyung thought about talking with Jimin the more nervous he got, when in reality he didn’t have to worry about anything. He knows that Jimin is so nice and supportive towards him and Taehyung knows he can keep a secret. So there’s no reason for him to so terrified of talking. Taehyung was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even realize the movie was over and Jimin had turned off the TV. 

“Tae, are you alright?” Jimin asked.

“Hmm?” Taehyung looked at the TV and realized that it was off, “oh yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about stuff.”

“I can't imagine… ,” Taehyung turned to Jimin as he continued, “look Taehyung. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable about what happened on Sunday. So I thought that in order to remedy this awkward as fuck situation we could, y’know, get to know each other some more. I'll tell you a few things about me and you'll do the same, if you want to of course. No pressure.” Jimin shifted in his seat and turned his whole body to face Taehyung. 

“If you really don't feel like doing this right now, you can ignore me and walk back up stairs.”

Taehyung shook his head and sighed, “no, I’ll stay, um, but I want to apologize.”

“Apologize for what?” Jimin asked confused, “You shouldn’t need to apologize for what happened, it was… my fault that things got out of hand. I should be saying sorry, not you.” 

Taehyung nodded, looking away from Jimin’s face, “Yeah, but, still I wanna say apologize for, uh, putting you in that situation. I-I shouldn’t have told you about what happened and made you keep it a secret from the dads… I made things awkward around here, I’m sorry.”

Jimin huffed at Taehyung’s confession. He was slightly annoyed at the younger boy for not understanding that his apology wasn’t necessary, but Jimin couldn’t be bothered by it for long. He just wanted to move on with the whole thing, so he just let it be. 

“Okay, then, I forgive you. But, I’m also sorry for what happened.”

“I-I forgive you,” Taehyung said as he glanced at Jimin’s face. Jimin noticed and called him out for it.

“Hey, if we’re gonna do this like ‘brotherly talk’ thing, you gotta look me in the face. Y’know one fun fact is that always having your head and eyes down are a sign of weakness and submission. I know you’re not weak and that you’re not afraid of me, so lift your head and look me in the eye when we’re talking. We’re equals, alright?”

Taehyung tentatively raised his head, nodding slightly at Jimin’s words.

Jimin smiled, “Okay, I guess we can start, um, talking,” he scratched the back of his head and sighed loudly, “you can ask anything. What would you like to know about me?”

The younger boy hummed, contemplating which question to ask. He let his eyes roam around the living room to get some idea on what to ask. After a couple of minutes, he couldn’t come up with anything. Taehyung sheepishly stared at Jimin, “I, uh, don’t know what to ask. Can you maybe just start talking about yourself?” 

“Yeah, I can do that.” 

Before Jimin started talking, he move around on the couch to get rid of that tingling sensation from his legs that fell asleep during the movie. After he was done rearranging the throw pillows around him, he began talking, “alright. Where do I start?” He looked away for a moment to gather his thoughts, “oh, I know, I'll start with the first time I met my dad.”

“Which one?” Taehyung interrupted.

“Oh, sorry. He’s Jin. I call Namjoon, papa or pops. It depends, but Jin is always dad. That’s how I differentiate them.” Taehyung hummed in understanding.

“Okay, now where was I… oh yeah, my social worker brought me to his place when I was about three…” Jimin noticed Taehyung giving him his full attention, “the lady and I came from the hospital because, uh, my real parents weren’t the best…” He gets really quiet as he tries to remember, but forget simultaneously, the events that caused him great harm but led him to happiness. 

He took a deep breath and continued, “They were drug addicts who couldn’t give a flying fuck about their kid who was locked away in some room. I don’t remember much about them actually, besides them occasionally coming in the room to give me scraps and throw me around until I stopped crying. Otherwise they wouldn’t pay me any attention…” 

Taehyung listened to him with his mouth slightly open, trying to wrap around his head that his happy-go-lucky, confident, caring, honest, best older brother he’s ever had, experienced such a neglectful life from the very people that brought him into this world. Taehyung didn’t even know who his parents were and whether they were still alive or not, but to be treated like nuisance by them must have hurt humongously. They were the same, but different. Is this what Jimin had in mind by ‘brotherly talk’? He continued to listen to Jimin silently, making mental notes of questions he wanted to ask so he doesn’t interrupt him.

“But one day, they came in and started talking about something in front of me. They kept looking at me too, as if making some sort of decision but I didn’t know what they were saying. Suddenly my mother picked me up and grabbed my stuffie, y’know the messed up, the dirty rabbit sitting on my bed, it’s the same one. Anyway, long story short, she left on the side of some street and drove off without looking back. Left me alone in the cold with a worn-out t-shirt, a full diaper, and a stuffed animal,” Taehyung could hear the distress in Jimin’s voice, “I sat there, where she left me, waiting for them to come back and take me home. I-I thought I was just being bad and I was being punished, b-but they never came for me.” 

Tears peaked over Jimin’s bottom lashes, leaving their marks on his pale cheeks as when he recalled the feelings of abandonment; of being rejected by the very people he was suppose to trust and guide him in his early childhood. His parents, whom are now blurry faces residing in his memories, brought him into this world to be another source of income for the very chemicals to drug their already decaying bodies and fog their brains for moments of pleasured hallucinations.

Taehyung inched closer to Jimin’s side on the couch. He pulled the older boy into his arms and let his head slide in between the junction of his shoulder and neck. Jimin pressed his face into the space provided, leaving tear stains on Taehyung’s shirt and wetting a bit of his neck as he cried. He felt his foster brother warily bring up a hand to rub his back soothingly, which made Jimin cry more as he remember some more about how his biological parents wouldn’t comfort him when he cried. After a while, Jimin pulled away from Taehyung to wipe away of the extra tears from his tear duct and wetness from his cheeks. Once he was done, Taehyung took his hands into his own and held them. Jimin looked up to Taehyung’s face to notice that the other boy was also crying. 

“Why are you crying?” Jimin giggled, but the sound quickly became gurgled by his hiccuping as he started to tear up again. “Stop crying, you big baby.”

Jimin reached up to Taehyung’s face and wiped his tears for him.

“I-I just, I didn’t know you had such shit parents,” Taehyung huffed, “plus I’m crying ‘cause you're crying, jerk.” Taehyung smiled as he sniffled.

“Haha, anyways,” Jimin smiled, “they’re not my parents anymore. Jin and Namjoon are, so end of story, I guess.”

“Oh, how did you end up with Jin and Namjoon?” Taehyung asked. He’s had this question specifically in mind when Jimin began talking about his birth parents. 

“Mmm… that’s a story for another time,” Jimin said, sighing. 

 

“Okay then, how did your other dad get in the picture?” Taehyung wondered. 

Jimin smiled, “Ah, well, you see there was a job fair going on at the time my dad was looking for a job and pops was hiring for drama teachers or something for the school he’s working for. It's hard to recall, but I do remember that he had stopped by one day to eat with us and I asked if they were going to get married…”

“And let me guess they agreed to it right in front of you?” Taehyung snickered. 

“Yeah, haha, I guess they didn't wanna disappoint me or something, so they went along with it and they actually got married like -- I shit you not -- four months later. I mean I didn’t force them to get married, I was just the catalysts in their slow-ass relationship,” Jimin finished with a laugh.

“You're fucking crazy!” Taehyung cackled. 

After laughing a bit, both boys calmed downed. Taehyung frowned a little, drying away some of his happy tears with the back of his hand, “ah that's great and all. At least, you know who your actual parents are and stuff.”

“Talk about.”

“What?”

“I said talk about it,” Jimin softly commanded, “There’s obviously something you want to say about it if you’re bringing it up. So it's time for you to vent everything out. I won't judge; I’ll just listen, like the last time, but I won’t push you to say anything. Just know it's not healthy to bottle up any sort of things you're feeling.”

Taehyung shifted in his seat. He was hesitant, but spoke nonetheless, “you'll only listen?”

“You have my word, unless if you ask me for an opinion or whatever. It won’t be like last time,” Jimin shrugged and stared at Taehyung, “go.” 

The boys talked about the various foster families Taehyung ad to deal with before he was placed in the Kim family. He spoke about how the system failed the kids in it, placing them in homes that shouldn’t have been authorized for childcare in the first place. Taehyung chronicled how the homes got progressively worse over time; to the point where he undoubtedly call the hospital his second home. They got to the point in the conversation in which Jimin couldn’t stay quiet anymore, but he promised to just listen and not ask, but the things he’s hearing from Taehyung are making is insides burn with firing rage. 

Taehyung continued to talk with a far away look in his eye, letting his legs bounce up and down, “I've been in eleven different homes, not counting you. Three of those homes had beaten me so bad, that I was sent to the hospital with some sort of injury.” He laughed dryly, “that’s why I keep saying Jungkook is nothing I couldn’t handle. A couple bruises and a bloody nose from him is bearable. Heck! I was choked by a bodybuilder and came to at the bottom of a flight of stairs with the paramedics over me.”  
He shook his head trying to forget it all, “I've been called so many disgusting things and experienced a lot, as you know,” Taehyung cleared his throat when he recalled what he told Jimin on Sunday morning. “But there’s worse than that. I just c-can’t tell you or anyone for that matter. And I won’t, not anytime soon either, so don’t even try. That's why I had asked you that time if I-I did something wrong in my past lives or in this life to deserve all the shit I’ve been through.” Now it was Taehyung’s turn to let the water loose as he cried into his hands and Jimin moved closer to him, wrapping his arms around him.

“I just f-feel done with e-everything,” Taehyung breathed out into Jimin's chest, “there's a-always a constant reminder o-of how much my life s-sucks. I was actually having the best time at t-the p-park, but then I-I saw h-him and it ruined everything!” He yelled through gritted teeth. “Everything is just one h-horrible memory. The beatings and the h-hospitals…” he pulled away from Jimin's chest and desperately looked in his eyes. “You won't let me go there, right? I-I won't h-have to worry right?”

Jimin stared at him confusingly, teary eyed, “go where?”

“The hospital. I won't have to worry about going there, right?” Taehyung pleaded, holding onto Jimin's shirt.

“Of course not,” Jimin put a firm grip on Taehyung's shoulder. “I'll watch after you and so will my parents. As long as you're here, you're family.”

“That's what everyone said,” Taehyung looked down and allowed Jimin to pull him into a tight embrace.

He cried into his chest and Jimin could hear the pain that came out of every sob. Just hearing him made him tear up and cry softly with him, “well, we're not like everybody else Tae. We're all different.”

Jimin sat there, holding onto Taehyung as he continued to cry. Taehyung closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. His breathing evened out as the minutes passed, and his body soon became limp, worrying Jimin. Scared that they were having a repeat of Sunday morning, Jimin twisted his head to the left to look at Taehyung’s face, “Taehyung? Are you okay?”

He heard soft snores coming from him and relaxed. Taehyung had fallen asleep. Jimin smiled and shifted as slowly as he could in his position on the couch, so he didn’t ruse the laying boy on top of him. But wasn’t slick enough when he felt Taehyung grip onto his shirt like a small child. 

“Jimin,” Taehyung slurred, sleep evident in his voice, “please don't leave me tonight.”

“I was just getting comfortable, relax. I won't leave you.” 

Jimin moved Taehyung's head onto his shoulder and positioned his head on top of Taehyung's, slowly drifting into a deep sleep.

\--

The boys had been sleeping on the couch for over an hour before Seokjin and Namjoon walked in with bags occupying their hands. 

“Yeah, so I tried asking the kids about what happened in the cafeteria, bu-” Jin stopped himself as he walked into the living room, seeing the boys asleep together on the couch.

“What's the matter?” Namjoon walked beside Seokjin and breathed out, “oh.”

Seokjin motioned Namjoon to quietly follow him into the kitchen, “that's so cute Joonie. Should I take a picture?” He whispered, excitedly. “I'm gonna take a picture,” he quickly took out his phone and walked into the living room, kneeling down in front of Jimin and Taehyung.

“Seokjin!” Namjoon whisper yelled. “Don't wake them up. They probably had a lot to talk about.”

Seokjin stopped in his tracks when Taehyung slightly squirmed, but relaxed again. He quickly took the picture and walked back into the kitchen, nudging Namjoon back too. “What would make you think that?”

“Sheesh, you get too caught up in the moment Seokjin,” he grabbed Seokjin’s phone and looked at the picture, “oh good, you can't see it in the picture.” He handed his phone back to a confused husband, “they have tear stains on their cheeks. They probably talked a few things out. Poor babies.”

Jin looked at the boys again from the entrance of the kitchen, “oh. Well now I feel like shit.” But the guilt was minimal as he laughed it off, “well whether you can see them crying or not, my boys still look cute sleeping like that. Though, I'm kinda surprised that Taehyung let himself sleep on Jimin like that.”

Namjoon nodded, “eh, let's not question it. Just let it be. They're getting closer everyday.” He walked up beside Jin and wrapped an arm around his waist, “are we going to leave them there for the night?”

Jin shrugged, “I don't know. They don't look uncomfortable on that couch, especially in that god awful position,” he pointed out, “ but they look so tired, so I’m just going to let it be.” He gave Namjoon a peck on the lips and grabbed his bags, “let's just go to our room. I'm sure they wouldn't mind sleeping here at all. Like you said, they probably had a few things to talk about. So they probably need each other, I don't want to be the one to ruin that moment. What do you think?”

Namjoon looked at the boys over one more time before grabbing his bags too. 

“Agreed. I don't want to ruin that either. Let's just get some work done and go to bed,” He winked at Seokjin, who got the message.

“Oh, that kind of work,” He chuckled quietly as his face turned a nice shade of red and ran upstairs with Namjoon slowly behind to get ready for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, don't worry Jungkook and gang will be coming soon, so please be patient. But in the meantime, we'll upload a separate fic for those who are interested in learning all of Jimin's childhood/backstory.


	12. Chapter Eleven: Merry Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Long time no update and we are sorry about that, but y'know life happens. Anyways we just want ya'll to know that the next update won't be until like this summer because we are busy now with school. Please stay tuned and know that we ARE NOT ABANDONING this work.

On the last day of the first semester, the boys and their group of friends decided to hang out for the rest of the day.

“Finally!” Baekhyun screamed and jumped into Chanyeol’s arms, catching his boyfriend in the air, koala style. “I've been so stressed the last few weeks, and now we can go have some fun and relaxing time!” Causing Jimin and Taehyung to giggle at their friend’s dramatic antics.

Chanyeol carefully put down Baekhyun, “but you love school, why are you complaining now?”

Baekhyun shrugged, “it's just been a long week of testing.” He turned to Jimin and Taehyung, and casually asked, “where do you guys want to go? Chanyeol is driving.” Chanyeol side-eyed his boyfriend harshly, clearly not remembering agreeing to be the group's chauffeur for the day. 

Taehyung shrugged and glanced at Jimin who spoke in his stead, “let's just wait for Mark first and see if he has some good ideas on where to go.” As if on cue, Mark came walking towards them from around the corner of the hallway. Mark greeted his friends quickly before Jimin decided to speak up,“school's out bro, where do you suggest we go?”

“Um, I can't hang out with you guys today. I finally have a date with my new boyfriend, and today is the only day we can meet before he goes on vacation.” Mark sheepishly smiled, “sorry guys, but y'all have fun for me.”

“Boyfriend?” Chanyeol and Baekhyun questioned in unison, while Jimin and Taehyung stared at him with big eyes, not believing a word he was saying. 

“You've never mentioned anything about a boyfriend,” Chanyeol stated. “Look, if you don't want to hang out with us, then like just tell us, dude. We’re not gonna get butt hurt or anything.”

“I'm not lying, guys. Seriously.” Mark took out his phone and showed them a quick glance at their messages, “I just didn't want to say anything, until everything was for sure between me and him.”

Everyone looked at Mark, uncertain, except for Taehyung, “I believe you Mark. I wouldn't want anyone to know about a relationship I'm not in, until I know it's official.”

“Thank you Taehyung. Now if you excuse me,” he brushed passed Baekhyun cooly, “I have a date to get ready for.”

“I don't buy it,” Baekhyun said abruptly but shrugged it off. For the time being it wasn’t any of his business, no matter how much he wanted their lanky to spill the deets about his prospective boyfriend. Mark will come around to telling them some more about this new mystery guy one day.

“Do you guys want food or just want to hang out?” Baekhyun asked, standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Before anyone could answer he spoke again, “I know this new Thai restaurant not far from here, we could check it out.”

The boys agreed and turned around to leave the building only to see Jungkook and his two bufoons, staring them down from across the hallway. “Long time no see boys!” Jungkook yelled with a hint of douchebag in his tone and began walking up to them, “ah Taehyung!” he exclaimed with a smile on his face, standing in front of said male, “long time no see. I believe the last time we met you kinda… ,” Jungkook rubs his index finger underneath his nose, “pushed me down pretty hard. I admit I was pretty surprised back then, so I let you go but now I think it's time you face the consequences of that little stunt, runt.” Jungkook got closer to Taehyung in order to put his hands on him; however, Jimin stood beside Taehyung with his arm wrapped around him, pulling him away from Jungkook.

“Don't get any closer Jungkook. We don’t want a repeat of last time.” He smirked when Jungkook stopped a few feet in front of him and his friends, glaring daggers at the short boy. 

“You talking shit?” Yoongi butted in.

“I wouldn't talk Suga,” Chanyeol stated and stood on the other side of Taehyung with Baekhyun right beside him. “Unless you want another nasty bruise on your face, then keep talking.”

Yoongi growled, “oh you're real funny, huh?” He was about to march towards him until Jungkook held him back.

“We're not here to fight, yet.” Jungkook bit his bottom lip and took a step closer, eyeing Taehyung with mischievous eyes. “I've decided to play it cool with you guys for a while, just until we come back of course. So enjoy your break, but your first day back will be one to remember.” He winked at Taehyung and turned around, leaving him stunned.

Yoongi and Hoseok lingered for a while eyeing Jimin with a predatory glint. At first, Jimin was confused at their staring and fear started to bloom in the recesses of his conscious, but quickly disregarded the intense staring of the two delinquents and gave them a hard stare, watching them walk away.

“What does he mean he'll ‘play it cool?’” Taehyung squirmed away from Chanyeol and Jimin’s grasp.

The two boys shrugged and lead the group out towards the parking lot, hoping that Jungkook kept to his word about not disturbing them but also hoping he’d forget about them over break. Sadly, it was well-known that the Jeon Jungkook never forgets and will surely come after them once the new semester began. 

\--

Taehyung and Jimin have been on winter break for almost a week now, and they haven’t done a single thing out of the house, except occasionally going to the store with Jin and Namjoon. It wasn’t like they were bored, the family had a lot of time together at home, watching movies or sitting in the makeshift library covered in sweaters and blankets, sitting around the fire pit, having small conversations.

But, today was Christmas day and Jin got out of bed extra early to prepare for the wonderful day ahead. He walked into the bathroom and brushed his teeth and combed his hair, not changing out of his pajamas yet, but grabbing a white sweater from his closet, and putting it on as he walked towards a sleeping Namjoon. He stopped next to him and poked his cheek. When he didn’t stir, Jin kissed his temple and lightly flicked his ear, “Joonie, time to wake up. We have a big day today, it’s Christmas.” Namjoon opened his eyes, but then closed them once again. “Joonie, please.” Jin could hear soft snores coming from his mouth once again.

Jin huffed and smirked, he placed his right hand over his mouth and used his other hand to pinch his lover’s nose shut. After a few seconds, Namjoon instantly opened his eyes and pushed Jin’s hands away from his face. Before Namjoon could say anything, Jin started walking out of the door, “hurry downstairs. We have to make breakfast and call our parents.”

Namjoon watched his husband basically prance out of the door without an ounce of guilt that he almost killed a sleeping man. He stood up and opened his closest, noticing how all of his clothes had been pushed to the side, except for a bright red sweater with a sticky note on it which says ‘Wear Me’. Namjoon sighed, but couldn't help himself from smiling. He put on his sweater over his pajamas and walked into the bathroom to freshen up, soon making his way downstairs and meeting Jin at the kitchen counter.

“Who are we calling first? My parents or yours?” Seokjin asked as he set up the tablet in the center of the table.

“Shouldn't we call the boys down first instead?” Namjoon seated himself in front of the tablet and pulled the other chair out for Jin.

Seokjin shook his head, as he dialed his parents first, “let them sleep in, they've been bored all break and talking with elders will just ruin their life.”

“My parents aren't boring.”

“Joonie, please.” He made eye contact with him and sighed, “let's be real here. You we're falling asleep when we were talking to your parents last year, so was Jimin!”

“I-uh-”

“B. O. R. I. N. G., boring!”

“You're acting childish.”

“It's the holidays and I'm at home, why do I need to act like an adult?” Seokjin looked to the screen and almost in that instant, his mother showed up. “Ah, hello mother! How are you? Where's father?” He grabbed Namjoon's sleeve and brought him into the camera's view. 

“I'm doing very well Seokjin, thank you. Your father will be here in a few moments, he's attending our guests.” She looked closer into the screen, “oh hello Namjoon.”

“Good morning Mrs. Kim.”

“Guests? Who do you have over, mom?” Seokjin settled upon the seat, watching as Namjoon brought a seat next to him.

A male voice echoed through the speaker, “is that Namjoon I hear?”

“Are you talking with Seokjin and Namjoon? Oh my babies!” A female voice bursts of from the speaker as she appeared on screen.

“Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing in Gwacheon?”

“Yah,” Namjoon's father called out as he showed himself to the camera, “we can travel as much as you young fellows, we aren't as old as you think.”

“That's not what I meant father.”

“Oh, don't mind him,” Namjoon's mother piped in, “he has been drinking soju since we’ve arrived. That's besides the point, where are the little ones? How's Jimin and that new fellow, uh, Taehyung?”

“Ah, they are doing well,” Seokjin glanced at Namjoon, “we had a minor inconvenience a few weeks ago, but everything is just fine.”

“I’d hope so,” Seokjin's father spoke. “We have to keep those boys in good condition. Not really sure of Taehyung, but for Jimin's sake. He’s a sensitive little boy.”

Seokjin sat in silence as Namjoon chimed in, “it's a little strange what happens. One moment they're laughing, the next, they're crying in each other's arms, then they're laughing again. Sometimes I'm curious to what they talk about, but then again it's their privacy.”

“It's a matter of support,” Namjoon's mother mentioned. “Although it may seem, different, but perhaps they found support within each other. They’re basically brothers now, and I'm very proud that both of you decided to take Taehyung as your own. Lord knows how lonely Jimin must’ve been, being an only child.”

Seokjin’s mother nodded, “they’re going through tough times, we can see it based on what Namjoon just said, sometimes you'll just have to watch them from afar and let them figure it out on their own.” She sighed, “it'll be hard, I know it will. Just always be there for them when they really need you.”

Seokjin smiled, “we will, always.” Namjoon nodded in agreement and took a hold of his hand. 

“Good.” Namjoon's father blurted out, “we're gonna cut this year’s call short, we’ve had a reservation at this really nice restaurant since last year.”

“You’ve had this planned?” Seokjin asked aloud.

“Yes.” All four adults responded at the same time.

Namjoon's mother smiled, “it was nice talking to you boys, take care of yourselves and your boys. Merry Christmas!” She as well as the other adults waved them goodbye and ended the phone call before Namjoon and Seokjin would have reacted.

“Uh,” Namjoon was dumbfounded.

Seokjin chuckled, “I would've woken up the boys for no reason.” He stood as he turned off the tablet.

“So what now? Should we start making breakfast?” Namjoon walked up to the counter and leaned on it.

Seokjin nodded and turned to face Namjoon, slowly walking up to him and placing an arm around his neck. “We can, or we can have a little fun before we do.” He kissed his lips, but stopped right away and sighed.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong, I just heard the boys talking, they'll be down in a few minutes.” Seokjin laughed, “maybe another time.”

Before Namjoon could react, the sound of Jimin’s voice echoed down the staircase. “So how do you like your green sweater? This is a tradition around here, y’know.” The boys walked into the kitchen and smiled when they saw their parents. “Good morning and Merry Christmas!” Jimin shouted excitedly.

Taehyung smiled widely, but pressed his lips together in a tight line, still seeming a little uncomfortable with his foster parents, even though it has been a couple of months already. “Yes, good morning and Merry Christmas to all.”

Namjoon motioned them to sit down at the table as Jin spoke, “Merry Christmas! Ho ho ho!” He turned around to see Namjoon staring at him, confused, and Jimin and Taehyung trying to hold back their laughter, but failing miserably. “Ha ha, very funny you two.” Jin eyed them all and smiled, “what do you guys want to eat for breakfast? I'll make anything you boys want.”

“Why don't I ever get asked this question?” Namjoon asked with a fake pout on his face.

Seokjin playfully eyed him, “I'll ask you this question once you ask me what I want to eat.” He walked to Namjoon and kissed him on the forehead.

“Ooo,” Jimin laughed, “you just got burned, papa.” He received a soft glare from Namjoon, sheepishly smiling and turning to Jin, “I think we'll be fine with just pancakes and eggs, right Taehyung?”

Taehyung wanted to laugh at Jimin so bad but he just nodded, “uh yeah, maybe with some orange juice or milk?” He asked a little unsure.

Seokjin grinned, “your wish is my command,” he bowed and spun around toward the stove, earning a few laughs from the family.

\--

As the family finished eating breakfast, they all worked together to get the remaining dishes cleaned. Once they finished that task, Seokjin gathered everyone into the living room, sitting them down on the large sofa across from the Christmas tree, decked out in lights and swimming in presents. “Alrighty then,” he sat everyone down on the couch, “usually Joonie and I hand out presents at this time, but we're going to wait until after dinner. So in the meantime, what do you guys want to do? Watch a movie? Play games? What?”

Namjoon turned to the boys, waiting for their response, noticing Jimin smiling a mile wide. “Looks like you have something in mind,” Namjoon commented. “What is it?”

“I was just thinking about what we used to do a few years back,” Jimin started, slightly looking at Taehyung, but mainly at his parents. “Remember when we used to tell stories about each other? I really enjoyed those times and it really made the time pass by real fast.”

Namjoon and Seokjin smiled widely. “That's a great idea Jiminnie,” Seokjin said as he thought about some stories to tell himself. “Who's first?”

Namjoon directed his attention to Jimin, “Why why don't you start since it was your idea? It'll be great to start with one of your famous stories.”

Taehyung watched the family, confusion etched on his face as they all mentally prepared themselves to tell a story. He waited patiently for Jimin to start, intrigued by what he was going to talk about, not planning anything for himself, only listening.

“Alright,” Jimin laughed to himself, “my story is really recent, and it happens to be one of the greatest moments in my life.” Jimin eyed Taehyung, although Taehyung was focusing his attention to the ground, listening to him. “July 29, 2017,” he noticed Taehyung turn his attention to him. “When I first found out that I was going to have a foster brother, I couldn't contain my excitement. I really love meeting new people, so I couldn't get the thought out of my head.” He saw Jin, slightly tearing up and Namjoon and Taehyung trying to contain their smile. “When the day came closer to pick you up, I had hoped that you weren't a child because I wanted us to have conversations if we ever needed each other. So when we picked you up from the orphanage, I was happy to know you were my age…” he deeply sighed, “ever since that day, you were the best thing that's ever happened to me. I loved everyday even more ever since you got here. Can't imagine anything anymore without you being included. I love you TaeTae.” Jimin extended out his arms in hope for a hug, Taehyung didn't hesitate one second and leaned into the older’s arms, hugging tightly for a few seconds before they broke it off.

“I love you too, Chim,” Taehyung mumbled loud enough for only Jimin to hear.

They stared at each other for a few more moments before Namjoon cleared his throat to catch their attention. “I really love your story Jimin, one of my favorites if I must say so.” He gave them a warm smile and both boys blushed from sudden embarrassment.

“Well,” Seokjin rubbed and wiped the tears away from his eyes, allowing everyone to turn to him, “since Jimin pretty much stole the show from everyone and their future stories, I think it’s best if we end it here. Nothing can beat this story, at least from what I can think of.” He glances around, “what do you guys think? Who thinks they can out-beat his story?”

No one spoke for a few seconds before Taehyung grinned with his box-shaped mouth, “I may not have a story to tell but that is because it was taken right out of my mouth by my brother.” Namjoon and Seokjin had heard him call Jimin his brother for the first time and it really meant a lot to them, especially Jimin himself. “This may not be a story, but all I can say for sure is that this is the best home I could've ever been placed in, I love it here, so much.” As soon as he finished, Jimin wrapped his arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a one-armed hug.

Namjoon rubbed a forming tear out of his eye, “well we should probably start handing out gifts Seokjin, I think we've all had enough of these sappy stories, as much as I love them.” He turned to Seokjin who pretended to not be crying, “it's okay to cry Seokjin, it's understandable that you cry for almost anything.” He earned a few laughs from the boys.

“Haha, very funny Namjoon,” he sarcastically smiled but sighed instead, “I'm not trying to ruin anyone's good mood so we should just open up some gifts,” he laughed. He stood up and grabbed two bags, both blue and handed them to Taehyung; he grabbed two green bags and handed them to Jimin. “Alright you two, go ahead and open your gifts.”

Jimin didn't need to be told twice before taking out the wrapping paper from the top of the bag and pulling out a new leather jacket along with a few t-shirts to go with it. He loved the choice of clothing he got and have out ‘thank yous’ to his parents. He folded them neatly and waited for Taehyung to open one of his. 

Taehyung looked very hesitant, “I-I uh…”

“It's alright Taehyung,” Namjoon smiled, “we really don't mind buying you things, go ahead.”

Taehyung was still hesitant, but pushed his feelings aside and forced himself to remove the wrapping paper from the top of the bag, he pulled out a beanie, black pants and a royal blue sweater. He smiled and went to move the bag aside but felt it heavy, he looked inside and pulled out a black and gray scarf. They had given him an entire winter outfit and he just loved it, “wow, this is great, thank you.” The adults nod as a ‘you're welcome’.

Jimin begins to open his next gift and Taehyung patiently waits, eyes watching his every move. Jimin smiles widely as he pulls out a pair of red skinny jeans, a white shirt, and black suspenders. “It's the outfit I've always wanted. Thank you so much!” He folds his clothes and eagerly looks to Taehyung, waiting for him to go next.

Taehyung gets the hint and begins opening his next gift, which was a denim jacket and a few multi colored t-shirts to go with it. “Ah, thank you very much,” he looked inside the bag and saw an envelope, pulling it out and noticed everyone smiling mischievously. He didn't say anything and looked at the envelope, feeling uncomfortable, but he pushed his uneasiness aside and slowly opened it, aware of everyone's eyes on him. He pulled out a card and opened it, reading: ‘We've only just begun, our real gifts are on the way.’ He looked up and saw Seokjin and Namjoon walk up stairs leaving him and Jimin alone. “Uh, Jimin, what do they mean the real gifts are on the way?”

“These are basically just stocking stuffers, every year they go all out and buy something that means a lot.” Jimin frowned, but then smiled, “I know you're feeling a little uneasy-”

“Is it that obvious?” Taehyung couldn't control his anxiety, “I feel really bad accepting these gifts.”

“I know you may feel this way, but I also know that they only give the essentials, whatever that means to them, anyway.” He laughed and nudged him, earning a smile as he noticed Seokjin coming down stairs with a small box and Namjoon with a large one.

Seokjin handed Jimin the small box and Namjoon placed the large box in front of Taehyung. “Jimin,” Namjoon called, “why don't you open your gift first?” 

Jimin nodded and began to unwrap the small box, as Taehyung peered over his shoulder to get a glance of what he got. Jimin removed the lid of the box and stood up from shock, not giving Taehyung enough time to see. “You didn't.” His breath was taken away, “no way! You got me a car?” He yelled in excitement, practically bouncing up and down.

Taehyung stared at Jimin, then to the adults as if they were absolutely crazy. He has never seen anyone receive a gift like this and it makes him feel even more nervous as to what he may get in his box, which was way too heavy to be clothes or any other small items he dreamed of having. He was over thinking everything, but snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a hand on his shoulder which he slapped away rather quickly as if on autopilot, “I'm sorry!”

“Don't be,” Jimin comforted, “my fault. I keep forgetting not touch you when you're in your little zone.”

Taehyung nervously smiled, “n-no it's okay.” He immediately saw him rubbing his hand and looked down in shame, “I'm really sorry Jimin, really, I-”

“Tae,” Jimin's voice grew a little more stern than before, “I said I'm fine.” He softly smiled, and eyed his parents from the corner of his eyes and noticed a confused stare coming from them both. “If you really wanna have another talk about this, I'm all ears, but later. Right now we're waiting for you to open your last present.” He pushed the heavy box closer to him and motioned him to open it.

Taehyung began to slightly tremble with only Jin becoming aware of it but deciding not mention it to avoid any conflicts. He just kept an eye on him for the time being and watched as he slowly began to unwrap the large box.

Taehyung removed the paper and took note of the case before him, his eyes widened and he stopped shaking. He tried to say something but nothing came out, he looked at the family as he unlocked the case opening it and slowly looked down. “Oh my god,” he was breathless as he picked up a reed. A smile grew wide, “a saxophone, thank you! Thank you so much dad!” Taehyung was too caught up in his moment to notice how the rest of the family became stiff and silent. After a few seconds, Taehyung looked at his family with a large smile plastered on his face, slowly frowning but eyes still beaming bright. “What's wrong?”

Jimin stared at him with wide eyes, looking from Taehyung to his parents who looked overwhelmed, “bro.”

Taehyung put the reed down and closed the case, immediately letting his anxiety overtake him, “what did I do? I knew I shouldn't have-”

“Tae no,” Jimin quickly stopped him, “you did nothing wrong, it's just that you thanked them and called them dad when you did.”

Taehyung’s face flushed in almost an instant, ears turning a bright shade of red. “I-I'm…” He began to shake when Seokjin stood up and kneel down in front of him slowly and carefully placing his hand on his knee, giving him a comforting squeeze.  
“You don't need to apologize for you calling us dad.” Seokjin spoke, making eye contact, and breaking it to look at Namjoon, “we just like to hear that you're really comfortable with us and it really gets to us.”

Taehyung was still shaking, “you're n-not mad at m-me right?” He flinched when Seokjin removed his hand, “don't hit me!” He covered his eyes and waited for an impact, very noticeably shaking and whispered, “please.”

Seokjin and Namjoon were looking at each other before Namjoon spoke, “Taehyung no! We would never hit you, let alone be mad at you for calling us dad. We're happy that you did,” Taehyung removed his arms from his face and looked at them both with puffy red eyes. “It really means a lot to us that you're able to show us how comfortable you are with us and please remember that you're safe here, don't think that we'll harm you for the things you say.”

Taehyung didn't say anything but look down, “I ruined Christmas huh?”

“Never,” Seokjin commented, “it's just a bit overwhelming today. So why don't you boys go up stairs for a while, Joonie and I will clean down here. Take your gifts and we'll call you down when lunch is ready.” He slowly helped Taehyung up and handed him his saxophone case and put his clothes in one bag, with Namjoon doing the for Jimin. Silently sending them up stairs for everyone to have a moment to calm down. Once they knew the boys were in their rooms, Seokjin softly spoke, “I was thinking Joonie.”

Namjoon picked up trash from the floor and turned to Seokjin, “about what?”

“Adoption.”

Namjoon looked at his husband with a gaping mouth. Kim Seokjin was unbelievable.


	13. Twelve: Welcome Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As soon as he turned around he made eye contact with Hoseok and Yoongi, who were coincidentally lingering the same hall Jimin walked to get to next class. At first, Jimin didn’t think much of their presence in the hallway, walking at his usual pace to class. It wasn’t until he could feel like someone was watching him, did he decide to walk a bit faster and hold the strap to his backpack a bit tighter. Jimin’s heart began to beat faster than usual when he noticed how unnervingly quite the hall he was walking down was; not a single student in sight and the classroom doors closed. He could faintly hear the sound of footsteps behind, but he brushed it off rationalizing that it was perhaps his paranoia about this whole situation settling in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys sorry for not updating since the beginning of this year. Thank you for waiting. There will be more chapters coming up soon which will finally get things rolling.

Winter break is over and the new semester has begun, Jimin woke up extra early from the excitement he had for wanting to show off his new car to Chanyeol. He completed his morning routine and laid back down on his bed, waiting for Taehyung to wake up. After a while of just staring at the ceiling, Jimin grabbed his phone from the nightstand, where it was charging throughout the night, and checked the time. The lock screen read: 5:30 am, he had thirty more minutes to wait before Taehyung would wake up. 

“I'm sure Taehyung wouldn't mind if I wake him up early,” Jimin said to himself. He rolled off his bed and headed towards Taehyung’s room in the dimly lit hallway, the source of light gleaming softly from the stairs where the kitchen light was on. Perhaps one of his parents were awake and preparing breakfast, but he didn’t hear anything, so maybe not. Anyway, Jimin quietly made his way to Taehyung’s bedroom door and softly turned the knob, pushing the door slightly open.

“Jimin?” Namjoon whispered from the top of the staircase (so one dad was downstairs), causing Jimin visibly jumped in place. Jimin turned around to face his father, who was walking towards him. In passing, Namjoon asked, “What are you doing up so early? Especially since you and Taehyung stayed up pretty late last night.”

Jimin smiled sheepishly, “how'd you know we stayed up?”

Namjoon huffed, “It's impossible to block out the constant laughter that echoed from the living room all the way up the stairs.” He walked past Jimin and headed to his room, but he stopped for a moment and glanced back at Jimin confused,“why are you going to Taehyung’s room?”

“Well,” Jimin dragged, “I’m like really excited to show off my new car that you and dad just bought me, and I want Taehyung to be excited with me. You feel, old man?” Jimin heard Namjoon chuckle at his words in his bedroom. Namjoon exited his bedroom, this time with a small stack of papers, while he checked the time on his phone. 

“You’re going to be late again?” Jimin asked. 

“Yeah,” Namjoon patted Jimin on the head as he passed his son and began going downstairs, “if Taehyung doesn't wake up, then let him sleep. I suggest you do the same thing too, you've only slept for like three hours, kid, and I don't want to get another call from your teacher of you sleeping in class.”

“That was one time! Three years ago.” Jimin shot back. He heard Namjoon laughing his way down.

“It can still happen,” Namjoon countered as he continues descending the stairs and slightly raised his voice now that he was closer to the front door, “gotta go, I'll see you later Jimin, bye!” He said, closing the door behind him.

“Bye, pops!” Jimin yelled back, ignoring the fact that Taehyung was sleeping a couple of feet away from him. Jimin looked back at Taehyung’s door and just shrugged, barging in without a worry of making noises. “Taehyungie~” he sang aloud, immediately noticing him squirm in his sleep. “It's time to wake up~.”

“I, tired…” Taehyung mumbled into his pillow.

“But it's the first day back and we got a new car to break into, aren't you excited?” Jimin jumped on the empty side of Taehyung’s side, making him bounce up and down a few times. He poked his face a few times, but when he didn't get a reaction he then started poking his tickle spots.

Taehyung squirmed a bit and weakly pushed his hand away, “Chim, no, just’ five more minutes. I'm exhausted. We stayed up so late-” his voice became softer as he quickly fell back asleep.

“Tae?” No response, Jimin sighed and laid beside him, “come on Taehyungie, I'm bored.” He shook him a little harder and his eyes fluttered open and grunted, turning his body away from Jimin. But Jimin didn't stop there, in fact, he scooted closer to him. “I'm going to lie on you if you don't get up, come on Tae, I'll make you coffee and waffles~” he sang again.

Taehyung deeply sighed, “with fresh strawberries on the side?”

“Anything you want.”

“Fine, fine.” He slowly removed the blankets from his body and sat up, sitting on the edge of the bed. He rubbed his eyes, adjusting to the darkness that filled his room, except for the light that entered in his doorway. “What time is it?”

“Ten until six…”

Taehyung turned around to face him, “really Jimin?” He started to get into bed again until Jimin ran to the other side of the bed, pulling him off of the bed into a standing position.  
“I'm making you breakfast, just get ready and come downstairs, your food will be ready by then. Then we can just chill and we'll go to school in my new car.”

Taehyung looked at Jimin and took note of his smile and the faint shine in his eyes, “you're excited because you want to show off your car huh?”

“Yes.” He simply stated and walked towards the door and turned on the light, causing Taehyung to grunt and shut his eyes tight. “I'll wait for you downstairs.” He shut the door behind him and heard Taehyung mutter something but shrugged it off. He began to make breakfast for the two of them.

\--

Jimin and Taehyung left the house fifteen minutes earlier than they usually did; Jimin wanted to park in Chanyeol’s spot so he could see their reactions when they got a view of Jimin’s new smokin’ ride. As soon as he parked, he left the car on for the heater so Taehyung and he wouldn't freeze to death in the middle of the school student parking lot. While they waited for the rest of the crew to show up, Jimin pulled out his phone and began tapping away on it. After a while, he began to notice Taehyung, from his peripheral vision, stare outside the window, staring at the school building.

Without thinking much, Jimin returned his attention to his phone. After a few moments of silence (with the exception of Jimin’s finger tapping), Taehyung cleared his throat and waited patiently for Jimin to put down his phone which didn't take very long. Jimin looked over at Taehyung expectantly, waiting for him to start talking. Taehyung let out a sigh, working up the courage to voice his concern, “Jimin, I'm a little worried… about what Jungkook said to us at the end of last semester. What do you think he's planning?”

Jimin thought for a second, turning his head away from Taehyung to look out the windshield, frowning a bit. “I'm going to tell you the truth Taehyung,” he started, unbuckling his seatbelt and turning his body to face the other boy, “I honestly didn't think about what that douche bag would do to us. Didn’t think about him or his ugly mutts all winter break. Plus, I don't want to give him the satisfaction of successfully terrifying us with his probable empty threat,” Jimin saw Chanyeol’s car pull up to the school’s entrance, “so don't worry about it, and remember, you are always with one of us during class or a passing period. Nothing will happen.”

Chanyeol parked in the open parking spot near Jimin, turned it off and got out, ready to give the jerk who parked in his usual spot a mouthful; however, upon walking closer to the stranger’s car and squinting to look into the driver’s window from where he was standing. Confusion swept through his face as he saw Jimin turn off his car and stepped out of the vehicle, grinning smugly at his friend’s reaction. “What do you think? Pretty cool, right?” Jimin asked, patting his car with pride. 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun, who decided to get out of Chanyeol’s car the moment he saw Jimin, stared at Jimin new ride, mouths gaping, “Woah, dude!” Chanyeol and Baekhyun walked up to his car, admiring every inch of it.

Baekhyun opened one of the passenger doors and stuck his head in. He quickly greeted Taehyung as he inhaled the air within the car and whiffed at the exterior frame of the vehicle, “Mmm, still has that new car smell.”

Jimin and Chanyeol stared at him in disappointment, while Chanyeol facepalmed. “You can't be serious, right Baek?” Chanyeol waited for an answer but only received a confused stare from him.

Taehyung, who has gotten out of the car and now standing out on the other side on the car, was at loss for words at his friends antics, but managed to find the right words express his bewildered reaction towards Baekhyun’s actions, “I'm pretty sure that new car smell is only on the inside of a car.”

Baekhyun thought about it and shook his head, “no- I'm pretty sure it's either.” The boys stared at him but it didn't take long before they all started laughing. “Why are you laughing? What did I miss?” 

Baekhyun’s question only made the boys laugh harder, except for Taehyung, who only chuckled and watched, not knowing what to say this time -- truly at a loss for words. 

Baekhyun’s face burned in embarrassment and anger, clearly getting upset at not understanding why his friends were laughing at his weird conduct around the new car. Taehyung immediately noticed how quickly Baekhyun’s mood was turning sour and motioned for Jimin to begin walking away. Jimin’s laughter died down, just a few giggles being let out as he stealthily walked past the couple, once he was a few feet away from them with Taehyung standing next to him, he called out to the couple. “Good luck explaining this to Baekhyun, Chanyeol!”

Taehyung saw Chanyeol’s face grow pale as he turned around to face an enraged boyfriend demanding to be told what was so funny. After a few seconds of watching Chanyeol struggle to explain, Taehyung and Jimin turned away and continued to walk towards the school buildings, leaving the couple behind in the parking lot.

“Will they be okay?” Taehyung asked absentmindedly as they stalked through the empty hallways. 

“Oh yeah,” Jimin confirmed half-heartedly. “They get over things pretty quickly with each other. I give them a minute before they start making out.”

They walked into the cafeteria and sat at a table waiting for their friends to join them. They sat quietly as Jimin leaned toward Taehyung, showing him a new game he downloaded on his phone. Taehyung would occasionally look up from the game as more people entered the cafeteria, slowly filling it up.

“Taehyung! Jimin!” The brothers looked up at the sound of their names being called. They both grinned when they saw Mark waving at them as he approached the table, throwing his backpack, and plopping down on a seat across the table, folding his hands neatly on top of the table. “It's been a while.”

“Stop being weird,” Jimin said, sitting up and putting his phone away. “So how was your break?”

“Pretty well,” Mark shrugged, “could've been better if I was able to spend more time with him.”

“Oh yeah,” Jimin looked at him suspiciously for a moment, “how'd that go?”

“It was fantastic! We went out for dinner and he drove me home, but before I could go inside, he held my hand and told me he wants to make things official between us.” Mark’s eyes glistened as he told his story.

In the background, Baekhyun and Chanyeol whispered to each other as they heard Mark go on in his story, “Sounds pretty cheesy.” Baekhyun agreed. “Did he get that out of a movie?”

The boys sitting at the table turned toward the voices to see Chanyeol and Baekhyun approaching the table with confused faces. 

“Mark, from what we heard walking up to the table, it all sounds like a load of crap. When are you going to end this shenanigan?” Baekhyun remarked, grunting when Chanyeol smacked his arm as they took a seat. “Don't put the blame on me Channie, you started it!”

“Well, now I'm ending it.” Chanyeol sat on a chair next to Taehyung and Baekhyun on the empty chair next to him.

“You guys can be pretty rude sometimes.” Mark mentioned, “how did you guys even hear my story? You weren't even here.”

Jimin made eye contact with everyone at the table before he turned to Mark, “well, Mark, you're not the quietest person whenever you open your mouth.”

“That means two things,” Baekhyun smirked until Chanyeol elbowed him to be quiet.

Mark stared at them, confusingly. “Really?” Everyone nodded and a few random students responded ‘yes’ to him, which made him even more confused. He thought to himself for a moment and shrugged it off. “Oh well, it's not like I'm trying to hide him anymore. So… what did you all get for Christmas? I got a new phone and a boyfriend.”

Chanyeol grinned, “I got a guitar, and Bacon over here got a shit load of clothes from literally his entire family.”

“Okay first of all,” Baekhyun interrupted, “I only got my gifts from my parents and a few from you, don't exclude yourself Channie, you were of help too.”

“I got you one gift, your family literally bought you an entire wardrobe.”

Baekhyun tilted his head, “you got me two gifts Channie.”

“I did?” Chanyeol stared at him as he leaned over to his ear and whispered to him, making his cheeks turn a bright shade of red. “T-That doesn't count.”

Baekhyun only shrugged and looked toward the two brothers, “what about you Tae? What did you get for Christmas?” His eyes narrowed, “don't tell me they got you a car too?”

Taehyung looked confused for a second, but then rapidly shook his head, “oh, no, I-I could never ask for such a thing, uh- Jimin's dads got me a new saxophone.”

“Wow,” Chanyeol smiled, “look at us Taehyungie, you and I be getting instruments because we're that good. Oh hey! Now that you have your own saxophone maybe we should get together and maybe write a song, or something?”

Taehyung looked at Jimin for a split second before turning back to Chanyeol, “sounds good, but I'd like to get a little better if that's okay with you?” His soft eyes seemed to have a hint of fear hidden behind them, but Chanyeol wasn't blind to miss it.

“Of course Tae, take your time, no rush.” Chanyeol noticed Taehyung's eyes become soft once again. He turned away from his direction, not wanting to make it a big deal, he already knows how Tae will react if any of the attention is on him. Instead, he made himself a mental note to talk to Jimin about it later.

The group of boys were each caught up in their own side conversations, and often discussing things as a whole, except for Taehyung who was okay with just listening. At some point, they were all in hysterics, even Taehyung smiled. He looked up from the table when he noticed a boy with blond, almost white hair, looking at him from a distance, with two other boys with their backs facing him. He looked away from the boy for a second before turning back and realizing that that boy was Yoongi. Taehyung's eyes widened when he saw a dark-haired boy turn around and made eye contact with him. He stared at Jungkook who only glared at him and began to walk toward him, but within the two steps he took the bell rang. He shook his head and broke eye contact, trying to act as if nothing happened. The other's groaned as they all stood up at the same time. He looked to where Jungkook and his friends were at, only to find them long gone.

“Come on Tae,” Chanyeol waves his hand in front of his face, catching his attention. “We should start heading to class, you already know what happens when Miss catches anybody late.” Taehyung nodded and walked beside him, saying their goodbyes with their friends as they walked their separate ways. Chanyeol turned to him, “remember you don't have to worry about anything, we're always going to be there Tae.”

All he could do was nod his head as he walked, staring at the floor and not even bothering to look up as he thought of all of the negative outcomes of coming in contact with Jungkook again.

\--

Jimin and Baekhyun had to walk to the other side of campus. They were taking their time because they were caught up in a deep conversation about a video game called Overwatch. The hallways were starting to clear but that didn't concern them, their teachers were always late anyway.

“I'm just saying, I think I can make a living if I were to go pro.” Baekhyun shrugged, praising himself and coming to a halt when they neared the end of the “T” hallway, it was where they went opposite ways.

Jimin stopped on the right side of him, narrowing his brows, “going pro? By the way you play? I think you're better off getting a career as a pop star with your singing. You suck at playing.”

Baekhyun glared at him, “who the hell are you to tell me that I can't go pro? You aren't in any position to tell me anything, you suck at the game too.”

“I know I suck, and I admit it. I'm just trying to help you so you don't ruin your life for not sticking with what you love doing rather than what you want to do just for the money-” the final bell rang and the hallways were completely empty, Jimin caught a glimpse of his teacher walking into the classroom. “Well she's not late today,” he turned back to Baekhyun. “Look, if going pro is something you want to do, then do it, but all I'm saying is to have a backup plan ready in case it doesn't work out. I should really be going, and you should too, we'll talk about this later.”

Baekhyun smiled, patting Jimin's back, “I know you mean well Jimin.” He turned and began walking down the hallway, passing a few doors before he walked into his classroom. Jimin shook his head and turned around, walking the opposite way to his classroom.

As soon as he turned around he made eye contact with Hoseok and Yoongi, who were coincidentally lingering the same hall Jimin walked to get to next class. At first, Jimin didn’t think much of their presence in the hallway, walking at his usual pace to class. It wasn’t until he could feel like someone was watching him, did he decide to walk a bit faster and hold the strap to his backpack a bit tighter. Jimin’s heart began to beat faster than usual when he noticed how unnervingly quite the hall he was walking down was; not a single student in sight and the classroom doors closed. He could faintly hear the sound of footsteps behind, but he brushed it off rationalizing that it was perhaps his paranoia about this whole situation settling in. 

It wouldn’t be too long until he reached his classroom, just a couple more steps to the reach the stairs and few more doors down the hall on the second floor. The sound of footsteps behind were getting louder, the person (people?) behind him was getting closer. Jimin’s breath was becoming heavy and his palms were starting to get sweating. He needed to calm down before his next lesson and see who the hell was causing him to freak out this bad. Down the hall was the boy’s restroom, and Jimin let out a long breath thankful to have a bathroom nearby. He quickly walked towards it, conscious of the footsteps following him. Before he could push the door open, he looked back to see who was following him. 

As if by some sick twisted game, Jimin was met with none only then the two people he was hoping to avoid when he passed by them in the hallway earlier. Hoseok and Yoongi were right in front of him, staring him down like some fresh meat to tear into and swallow up. Both of the older boys walked further into Jimin’s space, causing Jimin to step back into the door, opening it. Hoseok quickly reached to grab one of Jimin’s backpack straps, hauling him further into the bathroom. 

Thinking swiftly, Jimin took his arms out from his backpack, letting Hoseok throw it aside, while he made his way towards the exit, only to be blocked by Yoongi. Jimin stepped back, hands up protectively, “hey guys, long time no see, hehe. Um… it’d be great if you can both like y’know leave me alone. I promise I won’t like rat you guys out about lingering in the hall.” Yoongi scowled at Jimin’s plea and pushed him back, causing the younger boy to fall against Hoseok, who immediately wrapped his arms around Jimin to keep him still. Yoongi turned around to poke his head out into the hallway to make sure no one was around and closed the bathroom door again, this time making sure to put the lock in place before stalking towards his friend and a struggling Jimin. 

“Ha, you think that’s enough pleading to get us off your back, Park. Well, you’re wrong,” Yoongi said flatly, resting his hand on Jimin’s face, before roughly grabbing Jimin’s chin, squishing his cheeks and puckering his lips. Jimin tried his hardest to wiggle out of Hoseok’s arms after Yoongi released the grip on his face. When he felt that Hoseok wouldn’t budge, true panic began to settle over his body as he trembled, thinking of any possible way of getting out the restroom unscathed by the two older boys. Jimin was brought out his panic haze when he felt someone’s hands roaming over his body. Jimin went pale. 

“W-wait,” Jimin said.

Yoongi stopped his ministrations and glared at Jimin, “What Park? Can’t you see we’re trying to get some sweet ass.” He reached behind Jimin, squeezing his butt painfully, which caused Jimin to yelp in pain and kick his legs at Yoongi in attempts to get the man away from him. Yoongi grabbed one of Jimin legs and held it in place; positioning the three of them in a provocative position, one Jimin certainly didn’t want to be in.

“Please, s-stop this guys. This prank isn’t funny anymore,” Jimin whispered. 

“Who said this was a prank? We’re doing this because you’ve got a nice ass that needs to be put to use. Strutting around the school in these tight jeans,” Yoongi slapped Jimin’s ass to emphasizes Hoseok’s point, “Plus, you’re a pretty thing, Park, practically asking to be fucked.”

Both boys let go of Jimin, letting him fall onto the ground and watching him scramble to the door. Before Jimin could reach out to the handle to turn the lock and scream, Hoseok grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him back to the far side of the bathroom, forcing Jimin to be sandwiched between Yoongi and him. 

“Where do you think you’re going, Jimin,” Hoseok said, letting go of the younger’s black locks in favor for roaming his hands down Jimin sides, squeezing and pinching the bit of fat on his slim body. On the other hand, Yoongi pressed himself to Jimin’s front, hands on his waist and face in the crook of Jimin's neck inhaling his natural aroma while licking his lips. 

“God, bet you’d look so good bent over and stuffed full of cock,” Yoongi whispered, making Jimin flinch back and whimper at the prospect of the suggestive image. He felt Yoongi open his mouth again, but he was cut off the bell signaling the end of the period. 

Suddenly, Yoongi and Hoseok separated themselves from Jimin’s body, allowing him to sink his body to the ground, holding his arms crossed against his chest tightly. The two older boys smirked and exited the bathroom with a quick adieu; promising to continue their little encounter some other time. 

Once they left, Jimin hauled himself off the floor and walked shakenly to a sink, quickly splashing water on his face to get rid of the visible tear marks and calm his racing heart. He also fixed his ruffled clothing, grabbed his backpack, and stood silently contemplating what just happened. 

He only showed up to his last class of the day, smiling and joking around as if nothing happened.


End file.
